


Sand Child

by Mutant_Toad



Series: Sand Siblings [1]
Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Adoption, Demons, F/M, Fluffy Romance, Giant Spiders, Jorōgumo, Mating, Spiders, Weddings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-23
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2018-02-18 13:11:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 25
Words: 62,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2349608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mutant_Toad/pseuds/Mutant_Toad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gaara finds himself attracted to a strange girl from the village. He feels kindred to her and ignores the signs that something dark could be lurking in her past and future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Gaara, are you alright?” 

The redhaired Suna leader was sitting on bench in the town market. He seemed to just be watching the villagers as they went about their daily routines. No one seemed to pay him any mind as they passed, at least nothing more than an occasional nod of respect as they walked on by, “What is it, Temari?” his gruff voice asked as he continued to watch the people walking by.

“I was just wondering, well, you have a meeting in ten minutes. I thought you might like to be a part of it,” she knew better than to push her younger brother too hard. He didn’t take well to being told what to do. It had been a struggling battle to get him into position to take on his duties. It wasn’t that he didn’t want the job, because he did. He loved this village. Probably more than anyone else here. But it was hard working around his personality at times.

The redhead sighed softly, “I will be there. I just need a few more minutes.”

She bit her lower lip a little before continuing, “Okay,” it was best to give him what he wanted if all it meant was being a little bit late to a meeting with his advisors, “You’ve been coming down here a lot lately.”

“I like watching the people. They aren’t as skittish around me anymore. Some even smile.”

Temari knew what this meant to him. The village was finally starting to see him as something other than a monster. Mothers still kept their children away and the elders still feared him losing control, but everyday was a push towards total acceptance for him. One day, he would do something so great that would prove to everyone that he was worthy of the village and they were worthy of him, “They know you protect them and have the village’s best interest in heart.”

Kankuro was the one who had told her that Gaara was spending a lot of time down in the market. He said that he had to come get Gaara everyday for the past week from here. The same spot and the same time everyday. He said he had his doubts that their brother was just here to watch the villagers. 

Temari was starting to feel that he was right. Gaara seemed to be looking for something. His pale green eyes darted around the market. Scanning every person and stall. He was looking for someone or something. Temari wasn’t sure what it was.

She tried to follow his eyes and figure out what he was focusing on, but he got up suddenly, “I’m done. Let’s go.”

The blond nin looked up at him with some confusion before nodding and standing up to follow him, “We’re going to be a little late. I’m sure they won’t mind,” if this kept up, they would have to start scheduling the meetings for later anyway. Better to just reschedule than to make everyone wait for him. At least till whatever was going on with him finished. 

The meeting was dull as always, but it happened like clock work. The next day, Temari was down at the market again to fetch him. He was sitting on the bench once again and his eyes were scanning the crowd once again. She stayed back this time and watched longer. Tried to follow his eyes. She couldn’t figure out what it was he was looking at. It seemed random. Temari wanted badly to know what was going on with her brother. She didn’t want this to affect his duties or life. 

Eventually, she had to get him for the meeting again and the whole process started over again. 

By the fourth day, she finally realized what it was he was looking for. It wasn’t random at all. What he was looking at wasn’t random, it was just moving. She hadn’t noticed it at first, because what he was looking at wasn’t logical in her mind. It wasn’t something she ever expected from him. Especially to this capacity.

A girl. Gaara, of all people, was watching a girl.

Temari realized it when she focused on the small commotion that went on every day in his line of sight. It wasn’t anything out place, but she noticed that Gaara was always watching it. After he sat down on the bench, the girl would walk into the market and his eyes would start following her. She wasn’t anything remarkable. 

Overall, her features were somewhat plain. Dark brown hair that just hung limply around her face and was cut off at the shoulders. It didn’t look terribly well cared for. Probably just cut it so she wouldn’t have to deal with it. Physically, she was plump, but not too heavy set. Curvy, Temari would say. Not in the same way that she was, but only because she was a little thicker in the waist. Then again, Temari trained almost daily. She knew most women in the village didn’t do that. 

The blank look on her face had her wondering whether this girl was altogether there in the head. She just seemed to be wandering aimlessly around the market place. She would stop and stare at random stalls and Gaara’s eyes would stare at her. Then she’d move on and Gaara’s eyes would follow her. Neither the girl or her brother would show any sign of emotion on their faces. It was like a routine for them. 

For the life of her, Temari couldn’t think of the girl’s name. She knew a lot of people in the village, but it was impossible to know them all. She decided that she’d never seen or noticed the girl before. She appeared to be from the village though. 

Since their renewed relationship with the Leaf village, there were travelers more often. She knew this girl was from here just by the way she moved so easily around the market and her clothing. She wore the same sandy colored dresses as the other women with a red sash around her waist. A red hooding over her head to protect her from the sand the wind might stir up. She wasn’t any kind of shinobi, Temari could tell that. 

Like clockwork, Gaara’s eyes followed the girl around till an older woman came up and gently lead the girl off. Most days it was the woman, occasionally there was a man who was a little more aggressive about leaving. After that, Gaara was willing to leave for his duties and meetings. When the woman would come lead the girl off, it didn’t seem to phase Gaara much. But when the man did, grabbing her wrist and pulling her off, she could see his eyes twitch a little. 

After a week of watching him watch the girl, she realized she needed to do something. This was affecting his duties and she worried that Gaara wasn’t prepared to handle this sort of thing. Already he was starting stalking tendencies. She was sure the next step was to start following her home, which is where Temari was sure the man and woman was taking the girl away to. The last thing the village needed was the leader they still somewhat feared acting like a socially awkward, love sick puppy. 

“Kankuro, we need to talk,” she stated as she watched over her brother with his puppets.

“Oh yeah? Can it wait till later? I’m a little busy here,” it was delicate work and he couldn’t afford for his hand to slip up even the slightest.

The blonde leaned in close, “It’s about our brother being in love.”

The puppet master’s eyes went wide and he nearly rammed the tool in his hand right through the wooden arm of his Crow, “W-what?”

“I figured it out. He’s going down to the market to watch a girl. He only leaves when she leaves,” she stood back and shook her head, “He’s not ready for something like this. I don’t think he ever can be ready for something like this.”

He sighed softly, “Agreed. I can barely handle it and I’m the most sane of us all…”

Temari rolled her eyes, “Yeah, sure, you keep believing that while playing with your dolls,” she teased, “What should we do?”

Kankuro shrugged a little, “The hell should I know? I never thought something like this would happen. It’s kind of weird thinking about it. I can’t imagine him just walking around with a girl, holding hands, kissing, maybe getting married, things like that. It’s just too surreal.”

“I’m pretty sure we’re far off from kissing and marriage. Hell, I don’t think he’s anywhere near close to hand holding either. Can you imagine him on a date?”

He couldn’t help but laugh a little bit, “Oh god, that’ll be the day. He’d probably spend the whole time staring her down till she ran away. How romantic,” he rolled his eyes, “He’s not spoken to her, has he?” she shook her head, “I doubt he will. Gaara doesn’t know how to deal with this sort of thing. He’ll just keep spending his time watching her and eventually she’ll either stop coming to the market or he’ll lose interest. Till then, we will keep rescheduling meetings around it. There’s no harm in it. This could be good for him.”

“How so?”

“Think about it. He’s wanting to start a new life. He wants to protect the village by being a leader and not a weapon. He’s taking an interest in things beyond his own anger for once. First with being Kazekage and now showing an interest in a girl. This doesn’t mean that he’s going to ask her out or anything. He’s just testing the waters. It’s good for him to start noticing things like that.”

Temari shook her head a little bit, “I just don’t know. He seems more than just interested in her. He’s practically following her. He knows her routine. How long has he been doing this to realize her routine for it? Maybe he should ask her out and scare her off. That would be a better lesson for him.”

“Seriously? You want him to scare her off?” Kankuro chuckled and started cleaning up his tools, “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Might not be so good for his self esteem.”

“Kankuro, if he wants to be ‘normal’ in any way, he need to know that sitting there and just watching her all day isn’t the right way to go about it. Scaring her off might teach him that.”

“Or it might just send him right back into his own darkness and make him snap again.”

Temari sighed. She wanted this taken care of. She didn’t like her brother’s idea of just letting it run it’s course. Once Gaara had something in his head, it was hard to get it out. She didn’t see him losing his interest in watching this girl so easily, “We have no mother, no father, and he is our leader. He is our younger brother.”

“What’s your point?”

“You said it yourself, this might be a good thing for him. We should help it along. Whether to just end it or to help him learn from it. It’s either this or you get to sit our fifteen year old brother down and have a man-to-man talk with him. You know the talk I mean,” she eyed him as he tensed and stiffened.

“You’re the oldest. You do it.”

“Oh hell no. You’re the oldest son, so you get to do it,” Temari shook her head with a smirk.

Kankuro sighed and submitted, “What did you have in mind?”

“It’s like I said. Maybe he should go out on a date with her. We both know it won’t end well, but we also know that it could be good for him. Gaara isn’t the same. He’s changed. For the better too. He’s not going to lose control and hurt the village. It means too much to him now, but it will help him. He’s fifteen. Just because of who we are, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have these experiences. I know you’ve had them,” he turned his eyes on her and narrowed them, “Oh please, I saw you with that girl before we left for the exam.”

“And you with that lazy bum from the Leaf?” he smirked.

Temari shrugged, “Anyway, Gaara should experience it too. It might make him more of a recluse, but it could make him more open. He might be able to interact with people better if he learns that he can’t just sit and stare at people.”

“And how do you plan on getting him ask her out?” he was interested in hearing that plan.

“He won’t. I will.”

Kankuro perked and eyebrow, “If she says yes to that, then I think she’s really not his ‘type’.”

“I’ll ask her out on his behalf, you idiot,” she rolled her eyes, “And then we’ll just tell him that he has a meeting and when he goes, it’ll just be her.”

“You want to lie to him? You know, three years ago, doing that would have gotten you killed. I’m not entirely sure it won’t now for something like this.”

“It’ll be fine. You just…”

Kankuro put his hands up and waved them a little, “Oh no, I’m not getting involved in this. You want to do this, you do it on your own. I shouldn’t have even had you tell me your plan. I’m not going to be an accomplice anymore. You do this, you do it on your own.”

“I was just going to ask you to set up the dinner. You don’t have to talk to him or her. Just go ask the cooks to set something up for them. Gaara won’t trust a meeting being held anywhere but here. Being here will also cut down some of the awkwardness.”

“Oh yea, cause being alone in a room with the leader of the village just staring at you isn’t awkward at all. Whatever, I’ll do it. Just that though. When?”

Temari thought for a minute. She wasn’t even sure she could get the girl to go. What if she already had a boyfriend? All Temari knew was that she was some mousey girl that liked to wander around the market once a day. She had no idea of anything about her. Not even where she lived, “Tomorrow night. I’ll talk to her tomorrow afternoon. If she doesn’t want to have dinner with him, I’ll just tell him the meeting had to be changed.”

He shook his head, “This is gonna end badly.”

“Maybe, but we can’t let him keep just watching her. It’s creepy and people are going to start noticing.”

“I still say we let it ride out without interference, but you do what you want. After all, you are the oldest.”

Temari had hoped for her brother’s help, but apparently that wasn’t going to happen. The idea of it sounded insane, but she did believe what she said about not letting this go on any longer. Gaara couldn’t spend his afternoons watching some girl. It was inappropriate and people were going to start talking. The whole village was still on edge about him and they didn’t need to notice him stalking a village girl at the market on a daily basis. 

She took it upon herself the next day to follow her brother to the market and wait. This time, Temari wasn’t going to bring her brother back to his meetings once she left. She stood back and waited. Today was one of the rare days that it was both the man and woman who came to get her. Once again, Gaara’s eyes narrowed at the man. 

The woman was very coddling towards the girl. Gently wrapping an arm around her shoulders and leading her away while petting her hair softly. The man, however, was more forceful. He’d grab her wrist and tug her along. If she slowed her walk, he would give her a sharper tug. Gaara didn’t seem to like that. 

She followed them through the village. The woman began to coddle the girl, but the man rolled his eyes and told her not to. It didn’t stop her from doing it though. As far as Temari could tell, the girl didn’t seem phased by any of it. She couldn’t see the girl’s face to tell for sure, but the slumped shoulders and shuffled walking made it seem more like she was just being dragged along for the ride and didn’t care about it.

The area of the village they walked to wasn’t bad at all. It was mostly old families who hadn’t suffered the hard times that the rest of the village had. Well off ones who helped to keep the village going. A lot of the advisors were from this area. Temari decided she really needed to pay better attention to the people around here, because not a one of the three was familiar to her. 

Temari waited several minutes after they disappeared into one of the houses before approaching it. She hadn’t a clue what she was going to say. How did someone go about asking someone out for someone else? It was weird.

Still, she knocked anyway and took a deep breath as the woman answered the door, “Hello,” he said sternly..

“Hello, uh…” Temari didn’t know what to say, “I…uh…My name is Temari.”

“I know who you are,” of course he did. She was a well known person in the village, “Is there something I can help you with?”

Temari wasn’t usually put off like this. It just seemed weird. Gaara should have been the one here. She should have made Kankuro go talk to him instead of this. It wouldn’t matter how awkward it was for him, it was his duty as the oldest son since their father was gone. Instead, she was here and there was nothing that could be done about it, “I’m here on behalf of the Kazekage. Lord Gaara.”

That seemed to straighten the man’s tone up a bit, “Oh? Lord Kazekage?”

“Yes. He would like to see if your daughter would like to have dinner with him,” best to be blunt about it, even if it was a lie.

He seemed shocked now, “H-he wants to have dinner with my daughter? W-why?”

The woman appeared behind her husband, “Who is it, Dai?” she saw Temari and straightened up a little, “Your…”

“Lord Kazekage would like to have dinner with our daughter…” he said lightly.

“Oh?” she sounded confused, “I…I don’t understand. Why would he want to do that?”

Temari resisted the urge to groan. This was difficult. She didn’t like it one bit. She certainly couldn’t say that her brother was nearly stalking their daughter and that she was trying to put an end to it by putting them both through what could be a traumatic experience, “He would like to…” she wasn’t sure what to say, “He would like to get to know her better. He finds her…” again, she didn’t know what to say, “He would like to get to know her better. That’s why. If you or she doesn’t want to, this isn’t some kind of order. Just a request.”

They were both silent for much longer than Temari was comfortable with. She handed just standing here. They didn’t speak. Just looked back and forth to each other. Finally, the woman spoke, “If Lord Kazekage would like to have dinner with Tusara, I think we should be okay with it,” she was speaking to her husband rather than Temari.

“I agree,” Temari doubted that if it was anyone but Gaara, but still in his position, then no one would have to take the time to think about it. She knew what they were worried about. Gaara was, not long ago, a weapon. A dangerous and feared one, “Very well, I see no reason why not.”

Tusara. It was a nice name. She wondered what it was about her that her brother was so attracted to. She wondered if he was even really attracted to her physically or if it was something else about her. She seemed dull to her. 

“Wonderful,” she smiled lightly and stood silently. The couple in front of her just stared and she felt that sense of awkwardness rush over her again, “Are you going to ask her?”

“Who? Tusara?” the man seemed confused, “No need to. When and where would Lord Kazekage like to meet with her?” 

Temari didn’t like this. It went from awkward to upsetting very quickly. She knew that her village, along with many others, had a history that none of them were proud of. Arranged marriages, women being treated like maids and servants rather than daughters or wives, and even money exchanged for girls. There were even crazy groups that believed in sacrificing girls to appease demons other than the tailed beasts that they thought existed. There were so many strong women in the world and Temari didn’t like hearing a man, even the girl’s father, say something like that.

“I’d really like to hear it from her that she’d be willing to meet Lord Gaara.”

The woman came over quickly, “Really, that’s not necessary. Tusara is a very agreeable girl. She’s been saying for weeks that she’d like to go out with a boy. Lord Kazekage is a respectable man. A mother couldn’t be happier,” she smiled, “There really is no reason to bother her about this. She has a lot to do today. She’d be more than honored.”

Temari still didn’t like that, but at least it was done, “Very well. Tomorrow evening. Sunset. At the Kazekage building,” they all lived there and had for nearly their whole lives, “Thank you for your time,” she smiled lightly before starting away from the door.

She heard it close and turned around to look at it again. Her eyes darted up to the second floor and the few windows that lined it. Temari spotted the girl, who she now knew was named Tusara, and gave a small wave. Her dull eyes went wide and she shut the shutter quickly. It seemed weird, but then again Gaara always seemed to be surrounded by weird things. Perhaps this girl would fit right in with that.

It was done and Temari was willing to deal with the consequences.


	2. Chapter 2

“I don’t understand why there has to be a dinner meeting. That doesn’t make sense,” Gaara’s gruff voice sounded more annoyed than usual, “Why could this not be done as normal?”

“I told you, this was a last minute thing. You didn’t eat lunch or breakfast, so this seemed appropriate to me. I promise to never set up another dinner meeting again,” that was a promise she had no problem in keeping. Temari promised herself that she was not going to do this again, not even if Gaara did decide to go all creepy again and start stalking someone.

The redheaded boy made a small grunted noise as a response. He didn’t like things like this. Since being home and becoming Kazekage, things were more organized. He had schedules and meetings. He had advisors. Gaara was becoming used to the organization and he didn’t like it being thrown off like this. Right now was when he would usually be on the roof and watching the sunset while surveying the village. With the exception of the time he had been forcing earlier in his days to be at the market, it was his only free time anymore. Now it was being intruded on.

She led him to the dining room and took a deep breath before smiling, “Have a good meeting,” she nudged him towards the door before starting off. Gaara was more annoyed by the fact that he had to do this alone. If his day had to be upset, then someone elses should be too.

Schedules wasn’t the only thing that had changed recently. His mind was different too. He felt lighter. Like a weight was off his shoulders. Even the challenges of being Kazekage didn’t feel as heavy as the things expected of him before. Gaara meant something more now. He believed in something more. Where killing had been the only thing to make him feel alive before, now protecting his village was what made him feel alive.

For the village, he was willing to deal with these minor annoyances.

The person who greeted him from the table when he walked in was not who he had been expecting. Gaara was well aware that he was much younger than everyone else he dealt with on a daily basis. He knew that most in his position and most of his advisors were at least twice his age. So he had been expecting one of those old men who thought they knew better than him or an old, overweight, feudal lord that wanted to give him money in exchange for something that he wasn’t willing to give.

Who he saw instead was a girl at least a year younger than himself. No older than fourteen, he would guess. He wasn’t comfortable dealing with people younger than himself. Especially ones like this one. She was dressed up and she was trying much too hard to look older than she really was. That gave him the impression that she was very immature. About the only one he could tolerate was his one, and only, student, Matsuri. But she was different.

Her hair was long and blond in color, much like his sister’s. Her eyes were big and bright blue. She was nothing but smiles as he walked in the room. She was a cute girl by all rights, “Hello, Lord Kazekage,” her voice was high and it made him cringe a little bit. 

“I assume you are joining the meeting with your…father?” at least that was what he was hoping for. While he was able to manage his position, he had the same doubts about young leaders that the others had about him. He wasn’t about to make deals with a fourteen year old girl who seemed more interested in makeup than appropriate appearances.

“I didn’t know this was supposed to be supervised,” she looked confused, “Mother and Father didn’t say anything about that.”

“Supervised?” he was confused as well, “What sort of business did you want discussed with me?”

“Business?” their confused faces were matched. Neither seemed to know what was going on, “Mother and Father said I was coming here for a date.”

“Date?”

“Yes. Miss. Temari came by yesterday and asked my parents if I could come have dinner with you tonight,” she smiled brightly, “They said that you said you wanted to get to know me better. I was so surprised to hear it.”

The confusion left his face, “Temari…” he said her face lowly. He didn’t even say anything to the girl. He left her sitting at the table and rushed out quick, “Temari!” he called out loudly as he started down the hallway looking for her.

The blond nin was hiding out in Kankuro’s room with him. When they heard their brother calling out, he started trying to get her to leave, “I’m not involved in this. Get out. Come on, get out,” he groaned, but the blond girl wasn’t moving. Gaara pushed the door open and glared at them both. The puppet master put his hands up, “I had nothing to do with anything. I promise.”

“Oh shut up,” Temari stated, “What’s wrong, Gaara? Is dinner late?”

He didn’t speak immediately. Sand swirled around his feet and both his siblings swallowed hard, “Who is that and why is she under the impression that I wanted to meet her?”

Kankuro nudged her forward to take the blame for it all, “I…well…Gaara, it’s just, well…” she shrugged a little bit, “I thought you would want to meet her.”

“Why would I want to meet her? I don’t even know who she is.”

Temari bit her lower lip and looked over to Kankuro for help, but he was busying himself with pieces of wood on his desk, “Well, Gaara, I noticed when you went to the market…that, well, you weren’t just watching people. You were watching…her.”

His aqua colored eyes went blank for a moment, “What?”

“Don’t deny it, Gaara. You go there every day, watch her, and then leave when her parents come to get her. It’s impossible for someone trained like us to not realize it.”

The redhead blinked a few times, “I’ve never seen that girl before in my life.”

Temari looked over at Kankuro again, but he was still ignoring the situation, “She’s at the market everyday, Gaara. I saw you watching her,” the sand moved from around his feet and up to one of her wrists. Temari realized that there was no escaping this. She still believed that this was important. She knew her brother wouldn’t hurt her. He’d changed.

The sand tugged her as he headed out the door and back towards the dining room. She followed, slowly, till they got to the door. Gaara pushed it open with one hand and pointed at the confused looking girl sitting at the table, “I have never seen this girl before in my life.”

The blond girl stood up and smiled a little at Temari, “H-hello.”

Temari stared at her. There was no amount of tricks or makeup that could make the mousey girl from the market into this girl. For one, even the weight and height were different, “Who are you?”

“That’s what I would like to know,” Gaara growled slightly.

“I’m Tusara,” she smiled brightly.

Temari looked at her brother and his eyes narrowed at her. She looked back at the girl, “No your not.”

The girl’s eyes darted around a bit, “I’m more than sure it is. That’s what my parents named me.”

“Do you…do you have a sister?” Temari was praying that the answer was ‘no’, but she knew that praying was useless for something like this.

“Yes. Chikako.”

“She’s older than you, isn’t she?”

The girl nodded, “She’s about a year older than me.”

“Mousy looking, right?”

“A little, I guess…I’m not sure what’s going on here. Should I go home?”

Gaara sighed, “I think you should. Now.”

Tusara didn’t hesitate. She climbed up from the table and darted from the room quickly. Being invited to dinner was one thing, but being between the sand siblings was something everyone knew to stay away from. If Gaara was in conflict with them, it was best to let it stay in their family to be dealt with. After all, they all knew that the previous Kazekage had been murdered and none of them wanted to be involved in that.

“Gaara, I’m so sorry. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I didn’t realize they had two daughters. I’m really sorry,” she tried to plead her case as they headed into the room and Gaara closed the door behind them, “It was supposed to be Chikako,” at least she realized that now, “I’m really sorry, Gaara.”

“Why would you think I want to have dinner with any girl?” he asked sternly. 

“Gaara, I told you, I saw you watching her. You like her. You do it every day. It was starting to get weird. I just thought that if you spent some time with her, you might…I don’t know. I just thought it would be better for you to actually talk to her.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about, Temari. I go to the market to see the villagers. The more they see me, the less fearful of me they will be,” at least that is what it had started as. A rare free moment during the day found him sitting on the bench and just watching the people shop and interact with each other. The first week or two, people went out of their way to avoid coming within five feet of his bench. But as time went on, they got used to him being there. They didn’t avoid him anymore. That was his reasoning for it. 

“Gaara, please, I’m your sister. I know you still have trouble viewing Kankuro and myself as your siblings. We weren’t raised in a conventional way. But I am still your sister. I’m also a very well trained ninja. Did you really think no one would notice? I saw the way you watched her. I was just trying to do something nice for you. Please don’t be upset with me, Gaara. I only had good intentions,” even though she knew the whole thing would fail in the end, “Gaara, can you look me in the eye and say that you weren’t watching her? Because if you can, then I’ll drop it.”

Gaara’s eyes went to the floor for a moment before locking on hers, “I haven’t been watching any girl.”

Temari sighed. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting. For Gaara to just break down and confess his confused feelings for a girl he didn’t know? That was too much to expect, “Okay then. I’m sorry,” she shook her head and headed for the door, “But, if I were you Gaara, I would still try to speak to her. You know, Chikako, the girl you haven’t been watching for weeks. It wouldn’t hurt anything. But that’s just my opinion. I’m going to walk Tusara home.”

Gaara stood silently as his sister left the room. He was furious with her. It was taking a lot of strength not to go after her and throttle her. How could she have done this to him? Why did he think that he needed to meet a girl? Gaara had no interest in women in that manner. He had too much to focus on. 

Chikako.

He had noticed the mousy girl. He could deny it to everyone, but not himself. She was just another face in the crowd at first. There were plenty of people that went to the market everyday, so she wasn’t any different from them. Then it was her eyes. The way they looked as she wandered around the stalls. Filled with so much surprise and wonder. Like she’d never seen any of it before, except that she had because she’d been there the day before. Then it would all fade away when one of her parents would come to collect her. Her eyes would go completely dead. He could feel the pain coming off of her body as she was lead away. The sadness and loneliness, despite the fact that she had someone right beside her.

“Nnnn…” he growled to himself before heading for the door. He was surprised to see his sister and the girl named Tusara standing on the other side of it.

“Or you could walk her home,” Temari smirked a little before leaving him alone with Tusara.

Gaara didn’t say anything as he lead her back to her family home. He wasn’t a talkative person and he had nothing to say to this girl. Apparently she felt differently, “So, you really don’t want to go out with me?”

“No.”

She sighed a little, “You’d rather go out with my sister?”

“…”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” she shrugged and shook her head, “I’m prettier than her.”

“…”

Tusara crossed her arms and sped up her walking a little bit, “Just so you know, she’s weird.”

He let out a low, throaty, breathy sigh of annoyance, “You shouldn’t speak of her that way. She’s your sister,” even though just a few years ago, he’d threatened to kill his own brother several times and wished for the death of his father, “I have no desire to date anyone. Least of all, you or your sister. This was all a misunderstanding.”

They came up to the house and she turned to him, “She’s only my half sister. I can say whatever I want about her. People with a family like yours shouldn’t tell other people how to be with their own,” Gaara stared. He felt anger swelling up in his stomach and a pain throbbing in his head. Somehow, he managed to hold it back. After all, they were both right. Tusara shouldn’t disrespect her sister, but Gaara had no right to talk about other peoples families, “Good night, Lord Kazekage,” she closed the door on him.

He stood there for a few moments before shaking his head and looking up at the sky. It was dark out. The sun had gone down completely by now. The stars were nice out tonight. His eyes scanned the houses.

Chikako sitting in one of the windows on the second floor. She was sitting on the sill with her back against the side of it. One leg was dangling out the window and she was playing with the skirt of her dress lightly. It was the same dark brown color dress she’d worn at the market. The red head scarf was down around her neck. Her head was tilted up and she was looking at the sky like he’d been. 

Gaara knew he should leave. He was doing better these days in making good decisions. Maybe not always the best, but still good. He could honestly say that this was likely the worst decision he’d made in the last few years. 

Below his feet, the sand swirled and slowly lifted him from where he’d been standing. The cloud of sand carried him up till he was several feet away from her. She didn’t seem to notice. He didn’t want to scare her, so he cleared his throat as softly as he could. She jumped a little and Gaara’s arms twitched and he nearly reached out to catch her in case of a fall. Chikako didn’t fall though. She just stared at him with wide eyes. Her eyes looked different at night. They looked less dull and more shiny. 

“L-lord Kazekage…” it was the first time he’d ever heard her speak. Her voice was smooth and a little deep. It was easy on his ears. Nothing like the high pitch her sister had. 

“May I watch the stars with you?”

She bit her lower lip and looked back into her room. Gaara’s eyes followed and he saw that it was a bedroom. It had to be hers. It was very plain. A small bed, perfectly made with simple sheets and a single pillow. No desk or chairs. No mirror. Nothing personal. Even the clothing hanging in the opened closet were ordinary. Her eyes seemed focused on the opened bedroom door. She watched it for a minute before answering him, “If you want to.”

Gaara thought about it. Did he really want to? He knew this changed things. He wasn’t going to be sitting in the market anymore. He just couldn’t see himself doing it after this, “I do want to,” Chikako turned her eyes back up to the sky, but his stayed on her. Her face seemed so relaxed, but her eyes were still empty. He didn’t understand how her eyes could sparkle the way they were right now, but look so cold.

Hiis hand moved out towards hers. The sand streamed out and wrapped gently around her hand before his fingers could reach it. She didn’t seem phased by it. His fingers touched hers and it turned so that they could fold them together. They stayed like that for a minute before they laced together. 

Finally, his eyes turned up to the stars.


	3. Chapter 3

“Where is Lord Gaara? I’ve been looking for him all day,” Baki asked the two sand siblings. Today had been terrible. Meetings went unattended. Lords were angered at the lack of the Kazekage’s appearance. Paperwork went unattended. And a long list of other things that shouldn’t have happened if Gaara had been tending to his duties as he should have been.

“I’m not sure,” Kankuro shrugged, “Haven’t seen him myself today.”

Baki sighed, “Temari?”

The blond nin shrugged as well, “If he’s not in his office, then he should be on the roof. That’s where he likes to go.”

“He’s not. I checked. I’ve checked the whole building. I even had people looking for him all over the village. No one has seen him.”

The brother and sister looked at each other, “Should we be worried? He’s never just run off before. He usually makes some noise about it before he goes,” Kankuro sounded worried. It was always upsetting whenever Gaara did something unexpected. He’d changed a lot, but he was still Gaara and they both still worried that something might happen. Baki was usually worried about the same. 

“He has to be in the building somewhere. His bedroom. Did anyone check his bedroom?” Temari suggested, “Maybe he’s just feeling ill,” it was rare for Gaara to spend any time in his room. The demon inside of him didn’t let him sleep much and he didn’t keep much in his room, at least not since the last time she’d been in there, “I’ll go check.”

Gaara had refused to take over the room that had been their fathers. It had been the Kazekage room since the First, but Gaara refused to use it despite not needing it for hardly anything. The last time she was in his room, all it had was a small bed and a boarded up window. That was almost ten years ago though. Temari wondered if her brother had developed any hobbies or at least unboarded the window.

What surprised her a little was that his door was cracked open. She couldn’t remember ever seeing it open like that before. Gaara’s room was set off from all the main halls, so it wasn’t passed by often. It would be easy for someone to overlook it. No one would have dared to look into it. Even Temari was hesitant. 

She moved closer to the door and tried to peek in. All she could see was a wall, but she could hear something. It sounded like wind and it carried a soft laugh. She thought it must have come from outside the window, but then she heard the same smooth voice say her brother’s name. Her own eyes went a little wide and she wondered if she should go in. 

Temari pushed the door open just a little more and made just enough room to stick her head in. What she saw was shocking. 

Gaara was sitting with both legs dangling outside the window on the sill. Sitting next to him was Chikako. They were sitting close together, but not close enough that their bodies were touching. He was pointing up at the sky and she was watching his hand. It wasn’t completely night yet, but the sun was setting. His pointing hand wasn’t the only one doing something. His other hand was setting atop one of Chikako’s. 

Temari’s eyes looked around the room. It wasn’t anything special. Still rather plain with the simple bed. His sand gourd was leaning up against the wall by the window. The only thing different was a long desk taking up the wall across from the bed. It was covered in cacti. It seemed like Gaara had taken to cultivating cacti. Not something she expected, but it was something he could do while the village was sleeping and he was left awake and alone.

“You can only see it at sunset if the conditions are right. It only lasts a second or two, so you have to watch. Right there,” Gaara said softly as he pointed out to the horizon. 

Chikako’s eyes widened and she stared. It was like she was focusing completely on whatever it was Gaara was trying to point out, “Oh!” she said loudly, “I saw it! It’s green! That’s amazing.”

“I thought you would like that. It’s called a Green Flash. Sometimes you can see a blue one too, but that doesn’t happen much around here,” his hand clasped hers a little tighter and she leaned her head over to rest against his shoulder.

Temari couldn’t help but smile a little as she watched them together. If she hadn’t seen Gaara killing in cold blood dozens of times in the past, she might have found it a little sweet and cute. As it was, it was just nice to see him behaving like a normal person for once. 

The dinner may have gone terrible, but she felt good about her choice to have him take Tusara home. She was sure this wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t gone with Tusara. She kind of felt like this was thanks to her. Not that she would push for a thanks from him. After all, that had happened nearly a month ago. Temari had no idea of how long they had been seeing each other in this way. They seemed fairly cozy sitting together. 

She’d never seen this side of him before. He kept pointing up at slowly appearing stars and naming them for her. This wasn’t the brother that she knew. It wasn’t the monster he’d been before and it wasn’t the cold diplomat he’d been turning into it. He was a fifteen year old boy with his first crush. It was exactly what he’d be doing if their lives had been different. If he’d been born normal and not as a weapon. No one could doubt that he was truly human if they saw him the way she was now.

“You should head home. Your family will be worried about you.”

She sighed softly and nodded, “I know…”

Temari slipped her head back out the door, but stayed close to listen. She could hear them climbing out of the window and speaking softly, “Can I come watch the stars with you tonight?” she heard him ask.

“I would like that, but Mother is going to be upset that I left the market today. She’ll have told Dai about it,” Temari found it strange that she referred to her father by his name, “He’ll be upset about it too. They’ll probably make me go straight to bed.”

“Then I’ll just come up to the window anyway and we can watch with your light off. It’ll be nicer that way anyway.”

“…” she seemed to hesitate to answer this time, “I don’t think that would be a good idea. Tusara has been getting suspicious. I don’t think we should watch together anymore.”

Temari could hear the frustration in her brother’s voice, “Then we’ll tell them. I’ll tell them that the Kazekage wishes to have an audience with you to study the sky.”

“Gaara, they’ll know that’s a lie. They know I’m dull…”

“You’re not dull,” she bit her lip as she heard the sternness in his voice. Gaara was getting angry, “They just don’t understand you. I’m the Kazekage, if I request your presence, they have to say yes. Even if they know it’s a lie. Their place is to say yes,” Temari wasn’t sure she liked where this was heading. 

“You know I don’t like when you say things like that. I don’t like lying. It hurts people,” Temari chanced a peek and looked through the cracked open door. She saw them standing at the end of his bed. Their hands were clasped together and Gaara leaned down a little to touch his forehead to hers. Gaara had always been shorter than most his age. He’d been born prematurely and most figured that was part of it. Having to lean over just a few inches meant that Chikako was under average height for her age as well.

Temari had never seen such affection from her brother before, “I know. I just want to see you more. We spent all day together and I want to do that again. If you won’t lie to them, then why don’t we simply tell them the truth?”

“They were so upset when Tusara told them that you hadn’t really wanted to have dinner with her. They would be upset if they found out that you wanted it to be me instead,” the blond nin found that strange, but knew it wasn’t her place to question it.

“I want to see you more often,” Temari leaned back out to her hiding spot beside the door and continued to listen, “I want to spend more days with you like this,” it was a little inappropriate for them to be locked up in his bedroom all day, but Temari had a feeling that the most inappropriate behavior that went on was the fact that Chikako was there. 

“Tomorrow, we can walk around the market together.”

Gaara let out a soft sigh of submission, “Alright. Do you need me to walk you home?”

“No. I’ll be alright. It’s not very dark out yet.”

“You’ll consider telling them, won’t you?” 

Chikako hesitated to answer, “Yes, but just not right now. They would have trouble understanding.”

Temari heard movement towards the door and moved quickly to the shadows as Gaara opened it and Chikako came out in front of him. Their hands finally slipped apart and she walked off alone. Gaara stood watching her till she was out of sight, “Did you see enough, Temari?”

She froze and felt the hair on the back of her neck raise up, “Uhhhh…How long have you known?”

“Since we got out of the window. I heard you move,” his cold eyes turned on her in her hiding spot. He stared at her for a moment before retreating back into his room, but he left the door open completely this time.

“I didn’t come to spy,” which was the truth. She’d come looking for him for Baki. The spying part had been done at the last moment, “Baki has been looking for you. Apparently you’ve been missing all day,” Gaara let out one of his usual throaty sighs of annoyance, “I thought you might be ill,” though he’d never been physically ill a day in his life. Never a cold or a cough once that she could remember, “Does she come here often?” 

“No.”

“Has this been going on long?”

“No.”

“Do you plan on continuing to see her?”

“Yes.”

Temari had a feeling that yes and no were the only answers she was going to get about Chikako. Best to move on from that. It seemed rather harmless anyway. From what she’d seen and heard, they just liked stargazing together. They obviously had some sort of affection for each other, but it was puppy love type stuff. Watching the sky, hand holding, and silly romantic talk of seeing each other more often, “Baki is looking for you. That’s all I came here to tell you. He’s pretty upset. You blew off a lot of meetings.”

Gaara responded with a throaty grunt.

“Just letting you know. Don’t shoot the messenger,” she shook her head before leaving the room. Temari wasn’t his baby sitter and wasn’t going to sit around waiting to see if he went to find Baki. It was his job to take care of his duties and he could only be pushed so much.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been almost a month since Gaara had skipped out on his daily responsibilities. Temari had told the older of her two brothers what had happened, but they both agreed that it should be kept to themselves. They saw no reason to bother anyone else with the idea that Gaara had a crush. As the weeks went on, they even seemed to forget about it. 

After all, Gaara wasn’t going off to the market every day anymore. Instead, he was going about his day as he had before this stuff started. Now he would just be seen once in a while going off on his own after sunset. Temari figured it was to stargaze with Chikako. So long as he was doing it on his own time and not during his Kazekage duties, there was nothing wrong with it.

Over the course of a week, that changed again. Instead of just wasting an hour in the market, he was now spending whole days missing. It only took the first day for Temari to realize where he was. Once again, she found him in his bedroom with Chikako. They were sitting in the window just watching the clouds. She didn’t interrupt them and just lied to Baki stating that he was feeling ill. She used the fear of the demon in him to keep him away by saying that Shukaku hadn’t been letting him sleep again and it was draining him.

Everyday for a week, Temari would find them doing the same thing in his room. She couldn’t imagine how the sky could be that interesting for anyone. What she did know was that her excuses for him were not working anymore. The nail in the coffin came on the sixth day when the people she recognized as Chikako’s parents came to the Kazekage building. They headed for the blond nin immediately.

“Where’s my daughter?” the mother asked sternly, “We know she’s here. Tusara told us what happened. That you meant to take Chikako and not her. I won’t accept the Kazekage stealing my daughter away everyday. It’s inappropriate.”

“My stepdaughter is very fragile,” stepdaughter, that at least explained why Temari had heard her refer to him by his name rather than ‘father’ a few times, “She should be at home with her family,” given the small age difference between Tusara, who she assumed was Dai’s daughter, and Chikako; Temari assumed that Chikako’s father must have died very soon after her birth and her mother remarried fast, “If Lord Kazekage wishes to see her, he can come see her at our home where she can be supervised.”

Temari narrowed her eyes a little at him and lied through her teeth, “I haven’t seen your daughter here. If you ask nice, I can go ask Lord Gaara if he has seen her today.”

She watched Dai’s fist clench a little, but he didn’t move on it, “Please do.”

“Wait here,” she smiled before heading off towards Gaara’s room where she knew they would be.

Temari prided herself on not being surprised or caught off guard by much, but Gaara seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. Once again, he managed it as she peeked into his bedroom. She’d expected to see them sitting in the window and watching the clouds. She was half right. They were sitting in the window. Their hands were clasped together between them, again, this was becoming common.

This time, however, they weren’t watching the clouds or the setting sun. Instead, their heads were tilted and their lips were locked together.

*****Twenty Minutes Earlier*****

This week had been one of the best Gaara could remember in his life. Spending the day with Chikako was wonderful. She never expected anything of him. Never demanded anything of him. He could say anything he wanted without the fear of seeing disappointment on her face. She seemed just content. It was more than anyone else had ever been with him.

They spent the majority of their time just sitting in the window together silently. Just holding hands and watching the wind move the sand around or the clouds floating by. When they did talk, she never judged him for anything he said. Most of the time, she responded with enthusiasm or excitement. She even found his cacti to be fascinating. Gaara didn’t feel the need to hide anything about himself from her. 

He’d been hesitant at first to talk about the darker points of his life and personality, but as the days went on and they spent this week together everyday, he felt more at ease with it. She didn’t find it strange or scary that he rarely slept because of the demon inside of him. Nor was she scared that he had a demon inside of him. Chikako didn’t even seem phased when he mentioned the killing he’d done in the past. Hold coldly and easily he’d ended peoples lives. It was as if all she cared about was who he was now or who he was wanting to be.

Today was no different from the other days this week. He went down to the market and waited for her. Once she arrived, they would walk around for a short time. Even sit on the bench and eat together. He liked that they had the same favorite foods; salted tongue and gizzards. They were things most people didn’t have a stomach for. Apparently, his mother had liked them too.

Once finished with their walk at the market, they would head back to his room. He showed her how to care for his cacti. Everyday, he would tell her everything he knew about one or two species. As far as he could tell, she enjoyed learning about them. Chikako even took over the care for some of them. He liked sharing them with her and he liked watching her take care of them. It was like she cared about them as much as he did.

The care of his cacti and teaching her about them usually took several hours. After which, they would climb into the window together and watch the clouds for hours. Their hands would wrap together and sometimes she would lay her head on his shoulder.

Today was no different from those. At least it was till she picked her head up from his shoulder. He looked down at her and saw the nervous and anxious look on her face. Gaara didn’t like seeing her that way, “Is something wrong?”

She pulled both her hands away from his and clasped them together in her lap, “Gaara, my mother told me not to wander off today. She’s very upset about it. So is Dai. They said if I keep doing it, then they won’t let me go to the market anymore.”

“They can’t do that,” Gaara wasn’t used to the way a family normally worked. If her parents didn’t want her doing something, they had every right to say so and expect her to obey, “You’ll come anyway, won’t you?”

“I want to, but Mother and Dai will be angry if I go off again without their permission.”

Permission. Gaara had only in recent years been made to deal with the idea of working with permission. He wasn’t, in his current position, allowed to just go off on his own and do as he wished. Granted, he had been doing so this week, but he saw nothing wrong with that. It annoyed him that permission might be holding her back from him, “You won’t see me anymore then?”

Chikako was silent and rubbed her hands together nervously. She stayed that way till he finally reached over and took her hands again, “Chikako?”

“I’ve thought a lot about it, Gaara. I really enjoy being with you. These two months have been wonderful,” her fingers wrapped around his tightly, “I think we should get permission from my mother and Dai.”

Gaara blinked a few times before speaking, “You want to tell them?” a month ago she had been scared to. Even now, he could tell she wasn’t too keen on the idea of it. He was ready to question her about it, but he met her eyes and got her answer there. She wanted the permission because she wanted to continue being with him.

“I do,” she said softly.

The redhead swallowed a little. He felt happy. It was the same kind of happiness he’d felt when he realized that there was another person like himself in the world when he met Naruto. It felt the same, yet slightly different.

Chikako wasn’t a kindred soul like Naruto was. Nor did she invoke the same sort of respect that Rock Lee had. Truth was that in two months, Gaara had learned very little about Chikako. He knew that her sister was a year younger than her and only related to her through their mother. Dai was her step-father and she had known him most of her life. Her mother was named Tusara; her sister having been named after her.

Outside of that, he knew very little else.

That didn’t matter though. He saw how her eyes were. Even when smiling and watching the sky with him, they were always cold. She always seemed anxious and sad. Gaara knew how these things felt and he felt the need to be close to her because of it.

“Chikako, may I…” he hesitated, because there was one more thing he did know about her, “…may I kiss you?” he had wanted to since two days. Gaara had never kissed before. He wanted to know what it felt like and he wanted it to be with her.

He could tell this was difficult for her. She had expressed an unease about being touched in any way. Gaara took it as a small sign of trust when they held hands and she rested her head on his shoulder. Gaara was unaware of why she didn’t like to be touched, but he wanted to believe she would tell him when she was ready.

Chikako’s cheeks turned a soft, dusty pink and she nodded lightly. He took this as a big leap for her, “Yes. You can.”

Despite the approval, neither of them moved right away. Gaara had never kissed before and he assumed she hadn’t either.

When they did finally move, it was clumsy. Gaara was used to being graceful in battle. This was harder than he felt it should be. A kiss was touching of lips to another body part. He’d seen couples iss on the lips, cheeks, necks, and even hands. It seemed so easy, but they couldn’t seem to get it as easily as he’d seen it.

Their noses bumped together. He accidentally bumped his forehead against hers. Even once their lips finally touched, their teeth hit and it hurt a little. They pulled apart and moved back more slowly this time. 

Their lips pressed together in a more pleasing way this time. Gaara could feel the chappness of her lips from the dry climate. It was relaxing. It made him feel lighter. He felt warm. 

He would have liked the soft, unmoving kiss to go on longer; but a gasp from the room behind them broke them apart. Chikako pulled away fast and hung her head. He could feel her hands shaking against his own.

Gaara turned his head and narrowed his eyes at his sister. Their first kiss was cut short and ruined now. He knew how Chikako felt about touching. He knew there was no telling when or even if she’d want to kiss again. He knew that as intimate as they were sitting in the window was as intimate as they would ever be. Gaara was okay with that, but he had at least wanted this, “What is it, Temari?” it was an angry and sharply asked question.

The blond was regretting having not knocked. She’d discussed their relationship with Kankuro and both agreed that they were far off from kissing. Apparently, they were wrong. Kankuro was going to have to have that awkward talk he was nervous about having.

“I need to talk to you,” she forced herself not to sound scared, “It’s important.”

Chikako shifted a little and climbed from the window, “I should go…”

Before Gaara could say it, Temari did, “No. You should stay. It concerns you too.”

“Hn?” Gaara climbed from the window too and watched his sister.

“Your parents are looking for you. They say that Gaara has been stealing you everyday,” though she was more than positive that Chikako was very willing accomplice in the whole thing, “They seem pretty upset. They want to take you home,” which she agreed with at the a moment, at least till Gaara could be spoken to.

Gaara’s eyes were dark and he was clenching a fist tight against his side, “I’ll talk to them,” his voice was lower than normal.

“Gaara,” Chikako started and reached out to touch his clenched fist. It relaxed a little, “I don’t…”

He cut her off, “You wanted to tell them and they obviously already know. We should take care of it now,” patience was a virtue he was still learning, much like permission. 

Chikako went silent and Gaara’s fist relaxed and he wrapped his fingers around hers. He then leaned forward and touched his forehead to hers. Temari watched as they locked their eyes together. They didn’t speak, but Temari felt that they knew what the other wanted to say. She realized that she may have misjudged how intimate their relationship was in such a short amount of time.

The mousy girl finally spoke up, “Okay. We’ll talk to them.”

The corners of Gaara’s mouth twitched a little as he gave the smallest smile. It faded as he looked back to his sister, “Temari, please show them to the meeting room. We’ll be there in a minute.”

Temari was glad to hear that he was going to be calm about it. At least that was how it sounded, “I will.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Kankuro, you need to talk to him. I saw them kissing on the roof again last night,” Temari wasn’t backing down this time. Her brother wasn’t getting out of the ‘facts of life’ talk this time. She’d gotten it from an embarrassed maid. Kankuro had received it from their repressed father. Now Gaara needed it and the only person to give it to him was Kankuro.

“Oh please, I’ve seen them kiss. They don’t have a clue. They’re no where near ready for anything,” he shook his head, “Now get out of my room,” six months ago, she would have agreed. That was before she’d seen them holding hands and then their little kiss in his room. Also before being present for his discussion with Chikako’s family. 

The meeting had been lengthy and Temari was amazed at how collected Gaara had been for it. It was another sign for her at how close the two of them were in such a short amount of time. Dai, however, seemed upset the whole time and with the results. Gaara’s hand held her’s close during the whole thing. Chikako’s eyes were on him the whole time, never once looking back at her parents.

Chikako’s mother seemed uneasy at seeing her daughter so close to Gaara. It didn’t make sense to Temari. The woman had been more than happy to send her younger daughter to him, but not Chikako. However, all Chikako had to say was that she wished to continue seeing him and the woman submitted about it. Temari could tell she wasn’t happy to do it, but she wasn’t about to fight it either. After all, her daughter had been running off to see him everyday, so she probably assumed Chikako would continue to do it no matter what was agreed to.

Dai was less submitting about it. The older man seemed hell bent on keeping their life the way it was before Gaara got involved. He made it very well known that he didn’t appreciate anyone, even the Kazekage, especially the Kazekage, going behind his back to have any sort of relationship with his step-daughter. He said he found it inappropriate and irresponsible for someone that was in his position. He even expressed how he felt about Gaara being Kazekage at his age. Somehow, Gaara managed to keep calm through all of it. 

In the end, rules were set.

Temari reminded Gaara that he had important duties to attend to. Because of that, Gaara agreed to dinner nightly, so long as she was home within three hours of sunset. If Gaara happened upon free time, he was allowed to come to their home and get permission to have her out. Temari felt it was rather restrictive, but she also thought it might be a good thing for Gaara too. He needed to learn boundaries and this would help. Gaara agreed to it so long as one day a month they could spend the whole day together.

That lead them to tonight. Chikako had been here since sun up and it was well past sun down, yet she didn’t appear to be leaving anytime soon. It was like this every time she spent the day with him. She’d turn up before even Temari was awake for the day and she wouldn’t leave till her mother or step-father came, angry and upset, to get her.

Temari couldn’t fathom what they did all day. Especially since every time she saw them, they weren’t doing much of anything. How anyone could stand to just stare at the sky all day and night was beyond her. It was nice to look at, but it wasn’t that interesting. That was how it seemed to be for them on a daily basis. Just sitting in his window or on the roof watching the sky. She rarely even heard them speak to each other. 

Then there were the few times she caught them kissing. It was unnerving to think of Gaara being romantic. Kankuro was right, they didn’t seem to have a clue as to what to do. Their bodies were nearly two feet away from each other and the only parts touching were their hands held together between them and their lips. They either didn’t understand or know that they could move while kissing. They had both lived obviously sheltered lives, though in much different ways. 

Gaara had been raised in violence and blood. Devoid of love and socialization. Chikako, while Temari wasn’t sure her specific history, was very socially inept.

“That doesn’t matter, Kankuro. Even idiots figure it out and I would rather they not just stumble into it. The last thing we need is a baby Gaara,” she saw her brother visibly shudder, “Just talk to him.”

“What the hell am I supposed to say. Want to know what our dad told me? He said not to do it. Not exactly informative.”

Temari smirked, “But you did it anyway. So just go tell him the truth.”

The puppet master shook his head, “I can’t do it. I’m sorry, Temari, but I can’t. It’s too weird. He’s sixteen in a month, I’m pretty sure he knows what sex is.”

The blond girl sighed. She could see this was going no where. Kankuro was never going to do it. She sure as hell wasn’t going to. She knew someone had to. Knowing what sex was and understanding it were two different things, “Well, someone has to do it and it isn’t going to be me.”

“What isn’t going to be you?” 

The two turned around to see Baki standing there. They looked back at each other and Temari smiled. Baki was the closest thing they had to a father. Even before their own father’s death, he was the one that was usually set to deal with them when their own father couldn’t be bothered. Even Gaara trusted him to a degree, “Someone needs to give Gaara some sensitive information.”

“Then do it.”

“It’s not that simple. We were actually kind of hoping you would do it.”

“Oh? What is it?” 

The two stood up and started out of the room, “You see, Gaara has a new fascination and we just want to make sure he has all the proper information and keeps safe about it.”

“That makes sense,” Baki commented, “I don’t understand why either of you can’t tell him about it.”

“Like Temari said, it’s sensitive. Gaara is only just starting to see us as trustworthy siblings, but he’s always seen you as an authority figure. Who better to relay this kind of information to him?” Kankuro smiled, “You’re his top advisor.”

The Senior shinobi seemed to agree with that and nodded lightly, “You two must really think I’m stupid, huh?” they both stopped and turned back to look at him, “Everyone has noticed Gaara’s...female friend. I can’t say that I approve of how fast things between them seem to be developing, but it would be impossible to stop it. It would be wrong of us to expect him to behave differently when we want him to be adapting. You want someone to give him the sex talk because you’re both too cowardly to do it yourselves.”

The sand siblings looked at their feet before replying in unison, “Yeah. Cowards,” when it came to this, they were more than willing to stick their heads in the sand. They were sure that anyone would feel the same.

“Very well. I’ll do it,” the siblings sighed in relief, “Not right now though. From what I understand, he’s still with her. No reason to break them apart and give an uncomfortable speech that might upset him further,” they’d all seen the look on Gaara’s face when her mother or step-father came to get her on these days. It was best to just wait till after that, “Just send him to me once she’s gone for the day.”

“We can do that,” Temari stated, “Well then...that was easier than I thought it would be,” she smiled a little.

“Maybe for you two,” Baki said with a sigh, “Go on. Back to your work,” the siblings left Baki, not wanting to give the man a chance to change his mind about it.

He realized where he was. They were leading him to the roof. Obviously they had planned on someone talking to Gaara about it today. He wasn’t about to do it this second, but he supposed he should check on the Kazekage. There had been a few times when Chikako was here that the two had to be reminded to eat. As far as he knew, she had been here since sun rise.

Even Baki was amazed at the intimacy between them. Temari and Kankuro may not have understood it, but Gaara and Chikako were beyond the point of mere sex. It was like they had skipped the courting period, skipped the honeymoon, and were well into the prime of a relationship. The place where couples no longer needed to speak to understand what the other wanted. A place where they could just sit in silence and just understand each other completely. 

That’s how he found them now. 

They were just sitting on the edge of the building, as he’d seen them do at least a dozen times so far. Hands twined together between them and just watching the sky. He’d seen Gaara in many states of heightened emotion as well as utter contempt for the going ons around him, but it was surprising to see such relaxed content in the boy. 

He could understand Temari’s concerns about her younger brother and wanting to make sure the didn’t get in over his head physically, but he really didn’t see that being an issue any time soon. The two of them were beyond the need for physical contact from what he’d observed. 

Baki wasn’t concerned about physical intimacy between them, what worried him was how quickly they’d moved and how skipping all of those common steps of a long term relationship would affect them. How would Gaara react if she left him one day and pursued a proper relationship? He knew of the agreement that had been reached with her family, but he also knew that they still had the right to keep them apart. Kazekage or not, if her family did not want them together, they had every right to keep them apart. Chikako wasn’t a shinobi of any kind and as a civilian her family still held the right to speak on her behalf till she was eightteen. How would Gaara handle it if her family decided to move and took her with?

He knew every relationship was different and much of it depended on the personality of the people involved, but there were still important parts that he felt everyone should experience. 

He had no intentions on telling Gaara what to do or not to do when it came to this. Nor did he plan on simply giving him ‘the talk’ the way his siblings wanted him to. He intended to find out just how close they were. It was wrong of all of them to assume anything about their relationship when they were only seen for a small portion of the their time together. He wanted to find out how much they knew about each other. He wanted to make sure that Gaara understood how important it was to actually communicate verbally.

Watching them as they just sat there, he sort of hoped that this worked out between them. Gaara had been much more agreeable as of late and he hoped for that to continue.

As usual, Gaara toted Chikako around with him all day to various meetings. Any free time he had was spent sitting with her on the roof. Others had questioned whether the Kazekage’s female friend was influencing his opinions and decisions, but his siblings and Baki all assured them that she wasn’t. Chikako had no reason for it and neither did her family. They were very much politically neutral and never caused an issue in the past.

Eventually, her mother came to collect her since, as usual, she hadn’t left on her own. Baki watched as Gaara walked with her all the way to the door with her mother. It was like a light switch. The minute Chikako was gone, his face hardened back to it’s usual expression and the relaxed contention disappeared. 

He was set to pull the fifteen year old aside to speak with him when he noticed the man he’d come to know as Chikako’s step-father still standing near the door. Gaara either didn’t notice the man or was outright ignoring him. Which ever it was, the man didn’t seem interested in Gaara anyway. Instead, they locked eyes and the man motioned for him come outside with him.

Baki was curious and followed, “Is there something I can help you with? Dai, is it?”

“Yes and you’re Baki. You’re Lord Kazekage’s advisor.”

“One of them, yes,” he’d been in the role of caretaker in the past, but advisor described it better these days, “Is there something I can help you with?” he asked again.

Dai nodded lightly, “I would like your assistance in getting the Kazekage to end his relationship with my step-daughter. I know you are close to the Kazekage and he would accept your opinion over my own.”

Baki was silent for a moment. He was confused, “I’m sorry, I don’t think I understand. I thought you had come to an agreement with Lord Gaara about the boundaries of their relationship for the time being.”

“My wife agreed to that,” though biologically, Chikako’s mother was her only blood parent, “They may not seem like it, but the women of their family can be rather stubborn. If Chikako wanted to see Lord Kazekage, her mother would know better than to fight with her about it. It is better to just let her have what she wants.”

He didn’t know Chikako very well, but from what he’d seen, she didn’t seem like a stubborn girl. She seemed rather accommodating, to tell the truth. She was soft spoken, always stood just half a step behind Gaara, never spoke when it was inappropriate to, and seemed very kindly while still being cold, “It’s not my place to tell Lord Gaara who he can associate with on a personal level. If he wishes to continue seeing your step-daughter, then I have no place to tell him not to when you and your wife agreed to it. If you are having a change of heart, you need to take that up with your wife.”

“You don’t understand!” the sudden explosion from the other man caught Baki off guard, “She’s not a normal girl. Lord Kazekage cannot be involved with her. He’s too important to the village. Chikako needs to be kept away from him.”

“If the young girl is of any danger to Lord Gaara, you need to tell me now. If your family is involved in something, it would be best for you to come clean,” he hadn’t really felt concerned about them being together, just what would happen once they were apart, but he was worried now. If her family were involved in something that no one had managed to come up with, then it didn’t make sense for Dai to come forward like this.

“It’s not like that. She’s just not a safe girl for the Kazekage. Look up the records through her mothers family. The first man they are all involved with always ends up marrying them and always ends up dying. They are black widows. I don’t believe do anything intentionally and I don’t believe in curses, but those women are cursed.”

“That’s ridiculous. Black widow curse,” he shook his head, “If you do not want your step-daughter in a relationship with Lord Gaara because of his history, then please be honest with your wife and keep her away yourself. From what I’ve heard, you sent your own daughter here to meet with him. If you’re more protective of Chikako, then just admit that.”

“No. It only affects the first born daughter…”

“If you don’t believe in curses, then you must know how fantastical this all sounds. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have something important to get to,” Baki was wondering if Chikako’s step-father’s obvious break with reality in some aspects may have caused her rather distant personality. Baki had seen in the three sand siblings how having a dysfunctional family could cause extreme personalities. 

“My wife’s first husband was her first love. He died six months after Chikako was born. Her own father died six months after her birth. Same for her grandfather and great-grandfather and even further back than that. Each of them went on to remarry quick and have other children without issue. Please, you have to believe me.”

“Whether I believe you or not is not the issue. The issue is that it is your responsibility to take care of your family. If you do not want Chikako to be seeing Lord Gaara, then take care of it yourself and do not involve me. As it is, I’m encouraging their being together. If you saw them, I think you would too.”

“You have to listen to me! Chikako’s mother loved me before she ever met Chikako’s father. She admitted to loving me even on the day of their wedding. She said that if we were meant to be together, that it would happen. What sort of loving bride says something like that?! Not even a month later, she’s pregnant with Chikako. Six months after Chikako’s birth, her husband died.”

“If your wife has such a bad history, then why did you marry her and risk it for yourself?” Baki wanted this over with. It was nonsense. 

“...Because I love her.”

Baki shook his head, “This discussion is over. I’ll say it again, and for the last time, if you have an issue with your step-daughter being in a relationship with Lord Gaara, that is something you need to take up with your wife and step-daughter.”

“I swear, I’m only thinking of the safety of the Kazekage…” Dai didn’t say anything more. He just shook his head lightly and started off on his own.

Baki had a slight answer as to why Chikako seemed the way she was. He was sure having a father figure who thought that the women of her family were cursed would make anyone introverted. There was no telling to what degree Dai believed this, but it seemed fairly deep rooted. Maybe her relationship with Gaara was as good for her emotionally as it was for him. 

Even with that thought, he felt it important to talk to the younger male about it. Someone had to.


	6. Chapter 6

“What is it you want, Baki?” Gaara asked as he sat down on the stool in front of his cacti. He had been waiting for the man to speak up for nearly ten minutes and finally took it upon himself to start the conversation, “I’m busy,” cultivating his cacti was important for him. It kept his mind busy during the nights when he couldn’t sleep. 

Baki cleared his throat and stepped into the room, “I just wanted to speak with you on a private matter, Lord Gaara.”

“Then speak. It’s not that difficult to do,” he knew he was being a little short, but he couldn’t help it. He’d spent the day with Chikako and he disliked it when she had to leave. He hadn’t slept in four days and it was easy for him to become irritable at this point. The demon inside him was acting up more than usual lately. Shukaku had been behaving a little more since the incident at the Leaf Village, but the sleeping hadn’t got any better. The demon was still trying to control him through sleep deprivation. Chikako, somehow, made him feel less tired. She would, occasionally, run her fingertips along the back of his hand and his wrist. It made him feel awake. It seemed to ease Shukaku.

“It’s about your lady friend, Chikako,” Gaara visibly tensed, “I think it’s good that you’ve found someone you can be close to. Everyone should hope to find someone they can connect with and understand. You two seem to understand each other very well, even with knowing each other for so little time.”

“Is there a point to this, Baki?” he was getting irritated. He was diluting a special plant food that contained nitrogen and phosphorus in some water to help fertilize his cacti. It wasn’t hard to care for the plants, but it was something simple that took his mind off the world.

“I just wanted to make sure that you were…” it seemed harder for Baki to speak than it should have been. Gaara knew it was because of himself. Everyone had trouble talking to him, except Chikako, “I wanted to see where your relationship with her was standing. People are concerned that it is moving rather quickly.”

“I don’t see how that is possible. All we do is watch the clouds and hold hands. I believe that is the opposite of moving quickly. I may not know much about these things, but I do think I can understand that.”

Baki cleared his throat a little and took a deep breath, “It’s a little more complicated than that. Relationships are difficult. There is no specific path that any has to take, but I just want to make sure that you’re going about it in a...a...healthy way. And educated.”

“I know about sex, Baki, and I assure you, it’s not going to happen between myself and Chikako. She is not one for physical intimacy, nor am I,” he enjoyed their hand holding and the small kisses they shared. Gaara would be lying to himself if he said he was not curious about more intimate acts, but was content with never knowing them, “Our relationship as it is, is all it will ever be. There is no reason for anyone to be concerned over it. I know the only thing anyone is worried about is how I will react if she leaves me. I promise you, things will stay as they always have been. Chikako and I have discussed this in detail.”

“You’ve discussed the end of your relationship?” it was an odd concept. Most couples only discussed their futures together.

“Yes. I am not foolish enough to think that we will remain together,” he paused for a moment, “I do not wish to remain in a relationship for too long. I thinks it would be best for us to just enjoy our time together and part when it feels appropriate to do so.”

“That seems a little…” 

“Odd. I know this, Baki. I know our relationship is not like that of most people, but we are not most people. I think it would be wrong of anyone to expect us to behave any other way, don’t you agree?”

“I...I suppose so, Lord Gaara. It just seems wrong to plan out the ending of your relationship. Chikako seems to make you so happy.”

“She does, Baki. I love her…” Gaara didn’t have to look to know that Baki’s eyes were wide in shock and surprise, “I think Shukaku approves of her too. He’s relaxed when she’s around. It’s only when she leaves that he starts to claw at my mind again. He lets me nap when she’s around. I can lay my head on her shoulder and sleep and he doesn’t stop me. It’s only when I’m alone in here at night when he gets upset if I try to sleep,” he knew everyone wondered what they did all day together. Much of it was just sitting in silent, but he was napping too. It felt nice.

“If you care about her so much and you do so well with her, I’m just having a hard time understanding why you would think the relationship needs to end.”

Gaara didn’t feel like explaining it, so he gave Baki the short of it, “Because we would only hurt each other in the long run. I’m a monster and she…” he shook his head, “I’m Kazekage. Just because this is enjoyable now does not mean it can continue. I need to put my duties first and Chikako should be with a man who can give his time to her. People will only tolerate my behavior as of late for so long. Chikako needs someone who can keep sitting with her and being with her.”

They had discussed it almost two weeks ago. Gaara knew how the advisors were feeling about it all. Chikako had been very understanding about it, but he could tell she wasn’t happy about it. She had told him that she wouldn’t be happy with another man and that she didn’t care if he couldn’t spend as much time with her. Gaara refused to accept that though. As he saw it, their relationship was going to end soon and that would be it. Gaara would force himself to be happy for her when she eventually married and started a family of her own. He knew she would and she would be much happier.

“I suppose there isn’t anything more for me to say then, Lord Gaara. It appears you both have your relationship figured out the way you want it.”

“Yes. We do. Now please leave me be. I should be allowed privacy in at least my own bedroom. Next time, if you need to speak with me on any matter, please do so in my office.”

“I understand, Lord Gaara.”

The Kazekage didn’t make a move or say anything more till he was sure Baki was gone. He stared down at his hands. He’d gripped onto one of the tall cacti. The sharp, little needles bit into his skin. The small punctures weren’t wide enough or deep enough to cause bleeding, but the cacti itself was ruined. He’d crushed it. 

With a grunt of annoyance, he used his foot to pull over the small trash can next to his table and started to dump the now dead cactus into it. He saved the dirt. It could be reused. No reason to waste well nourished dirt. 

Baki had upset him. 

Just because everything he said was true, it didn’t mean he was happy about it. 

Gaara reached for another one of his plants and stopped, “Hello there…” he said softly.

There was a small spider on the cactus he was reaching for. It was brown in color and if it had been on the wall or outside, it would have been impossible to see. As it was, it was even still difficult to see against the cactus, “You shouldn’t be in here. If Temari sees you, she will crush you.”

He managed to scoop the little creature up in his hand and started to carry it towards the window, “Chikako would know what species you are. She likes spiders,” spiders were about the only thing she spoke about with passion. While he had no care for the creatures, he was more than happy to listen to her talk about them. For him, it was his cacti. For her, it was spiders.

They had been sitting together as usual on the roof. Neither of them had said anything in nearly two hours. The spider skittered up the wall between them and across their entwined hands. Chikako didn’t seem bothered by it and a spider was the least of his worries. It seemed to bother Temari though. His sister was coming up behind them and it apparently crawled up her foot. She went to kick it off and Chikako suddenly lost it.

She yanked herself away from him quick and knocked Temari to the ground as the blond girl went to kick the spider off and inevitably kill it. Chikako scooped up the little critter in her hands and walked away from the both of them. Gaara and her sister watch as she carried it towards a slightly shaded corner of the roof and released it. She knelt down and watched it as it skittered in small circles before moving up the wall and disappearing.

She then came back to his side and acted as if nothing happened.

It had been strange and left both him and his sister speechless. Gaara never pushed the incident. He knew not to press it. She’d never pressed him about anything and he wasn’t about to do it to her. She cared greatly for spiders and that’s all there was to it.

Gaara wondered if it was possible that the spider he’d just released was the same one she had saved from Temari.


	7. Chapter 7

Gaara’s birthday was not something he usually celebrated. It wasn’t a happy day for him and in the past, everyone just ignored it as if it were just any other day. However, he couldn’t avoid it this year. For some reason, they all thought that being sixteen was of great importance. Not just that, but it was his first birthday as Kazekage as well. He saw being sixteen as being no different from being fifteen.

Still, he didn’t stop anyone from celebrating the Kazekage’s birthday. He simply wasn’t involved in it. He let his siblings do as they felt was appropriate and he just went along with it. About the only thing he cared about was that Chikako’s mother and step-father had allowed her to come spend the day with him. It wasn’t like their other days together. Being his birthday, apparently, meant that he could get away with doing whatever he wanted. 

Temari had ensured that he had no meetings for the day and Kankuro was taking care of anything new that happened to pop up. Short of a true emergency, he was free from all obligations for the day. It meant they could spend the day together without her having to follow him to meetings.

Gaara and Chikako were currently on the roof, as usual. Instead of sitting on the ledge, they were sitting together in a corner. Most of the time, they were sitting at least two feet apart from each other, but in the corner, they were right up against each other. Gaara’s head was resting on her shoulder and he was fast asleep even though it was the middle of the day. The rust red colored head scarf she usually wore was draped over his head somewhat to shade his eyes from the sun. He had an arm wrapped around her and she had one around his shoulders. 

Gaara’s tanuki eyes slowly cracked open and he sighed softly as he sat up from her shoulder and pulled the scarf from over his head. It usually took a large amount of force, willpower, and energy to smile in most situations; but it was easy to do it with Chikako. 

He leaned back in and pressed their lips together softly. The closeness and the kiss were not their usual. Gaara wondered if this was her birthday present to him. It wasn’t as if she would shove him away if he tried to hold her closer, but he knew her personal boundaries and never pushed for it to begin with. But today, she had been the one to suggest sitting in the corner together as they had been.

Gaara would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy it. He liked laying against her. 

He liked kissing her even better. 

They were getting better at it. At least he thought they were. It felt good and he supposed that was all that mattered. The feeling he got when their lips moved together and his fingers brushed against her neck and chin as he held her closer was a feeling he wanted everyday. If today was the only day he’d get this kind of closeness, he was fine with it. It was just nice to be able to experience it. 

However, like most of their best moments together, it was interrupted. For once, it wasn’t someone else stopping them. It was Chikako. She pulled out of the kiss and hung her head a little. He supposed that meant she had reached the level of physical contact she could tolerate even for him. Gaara had enjoyed it while it lasted, “Are you alright?” he asked softly. He wanted to make sure she hadn’t pushed herself too hard.

“I’m fine,” she responded, “I’m just sad.”

“Why?” he didn’t want her to be sad. It was his birthday and things had been going so well. He’d even been willing to tolerate going down to the dinner Temari had planned.

“Because, I turn sixteen in two weeks and we...we agreed that after my birthday that we…” she didn’t need to finish. Gaara knew what it was. 

They’d discussed it. The end of their relationship. Gaara wanted her to move on and find a healthier relationship with someone she could really be with. Not some freak like himself. They hadn’t put an exact date on it, but Gaara and she had agreed on some time soon after her birthday. Now that it was getting closer, he wished he had said a year or even two or never. He refused to change his mind though. He felt that this was what was for the best for both of them. It would take something extreme to change that now.

“I know. Try not to think about it,” which was easier for him since he had plenty of other things to focus his attention on during a normal day. 

“I’m trying to…” she sighed softly and shook her head, “I’ll try harder,” she smiled lightly, “Will you kiss me again? The way you just did?”

Gaara was more than willing to oblige, “Of course.”

It didn’t last any longer than before though. This time, it was both of his siblings who interrupted them, “Gaara, Chikako...I think you both should come with us,” they didn’t have their usual tone of surprise to catch the two of them kissing. They were under orders not to bother them unless it was important.

“What’s wrong?” Gaara asked as they climbed to their feet.

“You should just come with us…” Kankuro looked colder than usual, “Both of you.”

The walk back into the building was quiet. Chikako stood by his side and he held her hand tight, “What’s this about? I don’t like surprises. You know that.”

“Gaara, this isn’t a surprise,” Temari stated as they finally came up to his office door, “Chikako, something’s happened to your parents.”

“What?” her hand slipped away from his as she took a step towards the blond nin, “W-what’s happened?”

“We’re not entirely sure. Your sister wanted to speak to you first. We have a medical team at your house right now.”

Chikako’s eyes went wide and she ran past the three siblings and into his office. Tusara was sitting in a chair with her hands covering her face. The younger girl was sobbing loudly, “Tusara, what’s wrong?! What happened to Mom and Dai?!” the younger girl continued to sob as Gaara came up behind Chikako. She knelt down in front of her sister and rested her hands on the girl’s shoulders, “Tusara, what happened?”

“Chi-chi-chikako…” the girl sobbed, “Mom and Dad are dead.”

“W-what? I don’t... I don’t understand. What do you mean they’re dead? Did something happen? An accident?” Tusara’s head shook fast, “Then what? Tusara, what happened?”

Gaara’s stomach felt tight. Were they really dead or were they just injured somehow? Gaara didn’t know why he was feeling so suddenly ill. He’d actually managed to sleep last night. Could that have been Shukaku? From what he could tell, the demon inside him seemed to like Chikako or at least tolerate her on some level. Could he have slept because the demon came out? Would it have hurt her parents in an attempt to keep them together? Gaara didn’t see Shukaku as being the sentimental type. Still, why did he feel so sick to hear that her parents were dead?

“I don’t know, Chikako. I just... You were gone and they weren’t awake. It was late,” Chikako had shown up just before dawn as she always did on the days they spent together, “Mother usually wakes me up for breakfast, but she didn’t…” the girl’s shoulders heaved as she sobbed out her story, “They were both still in bed sleeping. I thought...I thought they were sleeping...They were both so cold, Chikako,” the girl threw herself forward into her sister’s arms and sobbed louder.

Gaara didn’t know what to do or feel. Chikako held and comforted her younger sister. He’d never had to do that for someone before. Once they were alone again, would she need to be comforted? Would she break down into tears like Tusara was? Could he find any words to say to her that would comfort her? 

Watching them, he realized that words weren’t needed. All Chikako had to do was hold her sister. Let the girl cry into her shoulder. Just hold her and be there. Be something physical that could be held onto. Something that could be touched and felt to anchor the younger girl to the world. He’d felt a sense of comfort after meeting Naruto. To know that there was someone like himself in the world and that there were things he could aspire to be. Was the sort of comfort Chikako would need like that? Gaara knew there was still a lot left in the world for him to learn about.

He turned to his own siblings and wondered if they would need comforting or be able to comfort him if the situation arose, “I’ll take care of them. Let me know if the medical team finds anything.”

The two nodded, “Gaara,” Kankuro started, “Whatever happened, it could be meant as a warning to you.”

Temari nodded in agreement, “They know that Chikako is your...friend...political groups might be willing to hurt her and her family in an effort to put you off guard.”

“I know. I won’t be taken off guard by this. We don’t even know what killed them yet.”

His brother and sister left them at that. Gaara continued to watch as Chikako held her crying sister. He wanted to speak. He wanted to ask questions. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to say or ask, but something was there. It was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t get it out. So he resigned to just watching. 

The sisters held each other on the floor. Chikako smoothing back Tusara’s hair. The younger girl slowly, as the hours passed, started to calm down. Gaara had no idea how long they had actually been in his office. He could see the sun starting to set and could hear people going down to the dinner his sister had arranged. Would they be surprised that he didn’t show up for his own birthday dinner? He doubted it. He was sure they hadn’t expected him to show up in the first place. This whole day had just been formality. Just to celebrate the birth of their Kazekage, a day they once despised and feared. What was one more birthday spent with blood and tears to him? For once, it wasn’t him spilling the blood or causing the tears. But it felt just the same.

Before Gaara knew it, he was sitting at his desk going through paper work and Chikako was leaned up against the side of his desk with Tusara sleeping against her. Both girls were fast asleep and draped over them was the white cloak from the traditional Kage outfit he found bothersome to wear. Gaara was more than content with sitting in here while they slept. He knew he could leave, but he didn’t want Chikako to wake up without him being there. 

Kankuro came in and Gaara motioned for him to stay quiet while pointing at the girls, “Medical team is done at their house and they got all the tests done. It was spider bites. Lots of them. Their bodies were covered. They found the spider, or at least one of them, there had to be more than one to do that kind of damage and so fast,” he held out a small, sealed jar. The dead spider was laying on the bottom inside, “They said it’s a Jorō Spider. There was a web damn near three feet in length in the corner of the bedroom closet. That’s probably where it was living. Medics think that an egg sac must have hatched and that’s what got them. Weird though. Spiders don’t usually ‘attack’.”

The body was almost a whole inch in length, “No. They don’t,” Gaara didn’t know much about spiders, but Chikako had taught him as much about them as he taught her about cacti, “We don’t usually get spiders this colorful around here. Did the medics know anything else about it?” it’s abdomen was yellow-and-gray and it had yellow-and-black striped legs that were nearly twice it’s body length. There was a patch of red marking along it’s bottom. 

Kankuro shook his head, “Not much. Like you said, it’s not normally found around here. It’s usually found near water. Medics found a book that called it the Queen of Arachnids. Still wasn’t much else in it though. You alright, Gaara?”

He was staring at the spider, “I’m fine. Chikako is going to be upset by this. She loves spiders. It’s going to kill her to think that one killed her family.”

“Oh...yeah…Temari told me about how she tackled her over that spider. I would have loved to see that.”

“Take this, get rid of it,” he held out the jar.

“What do you want to do with them?” he eyed the sleeping girls next to his desk, “Chikako’s mother is dead, records say her grandmother is dead too, so is her father and his family. We found a record stating that Tusara’s grandmother is still alive. The medics are going to try to contact her. Apparently she doesn’t live in the village.”

“Oh? Where does she live?” Chikako had told him once before about her lack of family.

“Coastal village in the Land of Tea.”

“Let me know when we get word back from here.”

“Will do,” with that, Kankuro took the jarred spider and left the office.

The Kazekage moved around his desk to where the girls were sitting on the floor. He knelt down and pressed a kiss to Chikako’s forehead, “Let’s get you two into a bed,” he said softly.

She moved a little, but kept her arms around her sister, “I don’t want to leave Tusara alone…”

“There are plenty of guest rooms,” her eyes were puffy. She’d been crying in her sleep. It didn’t surprise him that she was a quiet crier, “Let me carry her…” the sand started to swirl around Chikako’s feet, but she shook her head.

“I can do it. She’s small,” even though Tusara was just a little over a year younger, she was physically quite a bit smaller than even Chikako, “I’ve carried her before,” though Gaara couldn’t think of a time or reason to do that. He supposed they had a more ‘normal’ childhood than he had and it was some sort of sibling play that led to it.

Gaara couldn’t deny being just a little impressed as Chikako arranged her sister’s body against her own and managed to stand up without any help with the younger girl in her arms. He hadn’t thought she had the physical strength to do something like that. 

He led her to one of the empty rooms not far from his own and watched as she tucked her sister into one of the beds before coming back out into the hallway with him. He couldn’t help it as he reached out and brushed his fingers against her cheek. She nuzzled into it a bit, “I’m sorry for all of this,” he wanted to take care of her, but he didn’t understand how to. Gaara wondered if maybe she simply didn’t need comforting. Or maybe she didn’t want it from him, “Are you feeling alright?”

“I’ll be fine. At least as much as I can be,” she said softly before reaching up and placing a hand against his, “Can I see the bodies tomorrow?” she looked tired.

“Of course. Anything you want. The both of you can stay here as long as you want. We’ve sent word to Tusara’s grandmother.”

Chikako nodded lightly, “She’ll come get Tusara after the funeral. She’s wanted Tusara to move in with her for a few years now. She doesn’t like her granddaughter living in Suna. She says it’s too harsh an environment and she’d be better off there instead. She’s probably right.”

“What about you? Won’t she want to take you back too?”

She shook her head, “No. She’s never liked me. I’m not her granddaughter. She’ll probably blame me for Dai’s death,” he looked at her curiously, “I heard Kankuro. The Jorō Spider. I used to have one. Mom brought it back for me from the Land of Tea when they went for a visit last summer. It got loose. I assumed it died. They usually don’t survive the winter. I can’t imagine where it found a mate.”

“The medics didn’t find any babies.”

“There’s no way just one could have killed them both. The mother must have tired to feed the male to the babies, but it wasn’t enough. They can produce anywhere from 400 to 1500 eggs. They wouldn’t have stuck around. They would spread out and start to make webs of their own. Spiders aren’t loving creatures. They will eat each other easily with no remorse for it. She’ll blame me for it. She’ll say that it’s my fault the spider got loose and that’s why her son is dead. She’s never liked me…”

“What will you do?”

“I’ll go with anyway.”

“If she won’t have you, where will you live? How will you eat?”

Chikako shrugged lightly, “I’ll figure something out. I can’t stay in my mother and Dai’s house. Not if they died in it.”

Gaara knew it was selfish, but he couldn’t seem to bite it back, “I don’t want you to leave Suna. Not if I don’t know you’re going to be alright,” he’d resigned to being tolerant of the idea of her leaving him, getting married, and having a family of her own without him involved; but that only sat well enough with him if she was still in Suna. Where he could still see her. Still be near her if she needed him. He was the Kazekage, he couldn’t just go to the Land of Tea whenever he wanted to check on her.

Her hand moved out to his cheek this time, “Can we talk about it later? I’m tired.”

He nodded lightly and she pulled away from him to disappear into the bedroom.


	8. Chapter 8

Having little to no family and few friends, the funeral was small and fast. Gaara had insisted on his siblings going even though there was no real reason for them to be there. Chikako managed to remain as cold and seemingly emotionless as ever during the whole thing while her sister had a break down. She was the stone of the two. Gaara could only imagine how Tusara would be if Chikako weren’t there.

The younger girl’s grandmother arrived in time for the funeral and Gaara had to restrain himself at Chikako’s request around her. The woman was insufferable. She took shots at Chikako every chance she got. Just Chikako’s mere presence in the room seemed enough to set the old woman off. As she’d warned Gaara, the old woman blamed her for the death of her son. She didn’t seem to care about her daughter-in-law’s death, only that of her son. 

When the old woman arrived, she held Tusara tight as a grandmother should in that sort of situation; but when Chikako arrived, she actually slapped her. The hit had been hard enough to leave a red mark. Even several minutes later when they were alone and Gaara touched her cheek, it still felt warm from the slap. While Chikako had asked him not to interfere, he told the old woman that while she was in the home of the Kazekage, she wouldn’t raise a hand to anybody again.

His duties kept him away most of the time, but he could tell the affect the old woman’s words were having on Chikako. She was quieter than normal and she wouldn’t hold hands with him anymore. It was a week till her birthday and the funeral had been finished two days prior. He wanted to speak with her and find out what she was planning on doing. Gaara didn’t want her going to the Land of Tea to live around a woman who obviously hated her. He even remembered Tusara’s words to him when they first met. About how Chikako was weird. Why would she want to stay around those people? It had been different when she was staying here and he could keep an eye on her.

Gaara knew it was selfish, but he didn’t care.

“Chikako…”

She was in her room at her family house. Tusara and her grandmother were in other rooms packing them up. Chikako only had one box in her room to pack everything into. It wasn’t because the other women were being mean to her and only giving her one, but it was just that only one was all she needed. 

“Gaara,” she gave him a soft smile as she folded up one of her dusty colored robes and placed it in the box.

He moved towards her small night stand and tapped on the small, glass box that sat on it. Inside was a common desert spider. It skittered around before crawling into the little rock cave she’d given it, “What are you going to do with her? A desert spider has no place in the Land of Tea. It’ll be too cold.”

“He. It’s a boy. The Jorō was the only female I had...” she corrected, “I’ll release him before I go.”

“Don’t leave Suna. Stay. You won’t be happy there.”

“I won’t be happy here either, Gaara,” her voice was cold, “You’ve been planning on us being apart since the day we met. Being in the Land of Tea will make it easier for me. You want me to find someone else and be happy without you, I can’t even attempt to do that here. At least in the Land of Tea, I can try. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

The redheaded boy moved around the bed and wrapped his fingers around hers, “I want to show you something.”

“Gaara, I need to finish in here. Tusara is leaving tomorrow and I want to be with her. It’ll be easier to travel with them than to do it on my own. They said I could come with them.”

“I need to show you something, Chikako. I don’t want you to decide to leave till you see it.”

She sighed softly and nodded, “Alright.”

He held her hand and gave it a small tug to get her to follow. As they passed by Tusara and her grandmother, the old woman hissed a word, “Jorōgumo,” Gaara wasn’t familiar with the word and had no intentions on dealing with the old hag at the moment.

He lead her through the village and back to the Kazekage building, “Gaara, where are we going?” but he didn’t answer her as he lead her up to his room, “I don’t have time to look at the clouds, Gaara.”

He opened the door and motioned for her to go inside. The room had been rearranged to make room for a second bed. Both beds were small and single in size. They were covered in similar sheets and bedding. Between them were two small nightstands. One had a potted cactus on it and the other had an empty box just a little larger than the one she had in her room. The small closet door was open and the small bit of clothing he owned was pushed to one side with empty hangers on the other side.

“It’s yours, if you want it.”

The look on her face was one Gaara hadn’t seen before. She looked sad. Really sad. Tears were welling in her eyes and he felt suddenly unsure of what to do, “G-Gaara, but you... you won’t be happy with me here... you said that,” it had been his reasoning behind planning the end of their relationship from the beginning. That neither of them could be happy together for long.

“I’ll be happier with you here in Suna with me, than with you in the Land of Tea. If you don’t feel the same way, I won’t stop you from going. I just want you to know that staying is an option. Staying with me.”

She couldn’t hold the tears back anymore. They started rolling down her cheeks, “Gaara, I...I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t.”

“But I will. I’m not normal. My birthday…it’s…” she shook her head.

“You think I’m normal?” he pulled her closer and leaned his head down to touch their foreheads together, “I’ve killed countless men in cold blood for no reason other than to do it. I have a demon inside of me. My own father tried to assassinate me. My own brother and sister fear me.”

“Fear…” she said the word softly.

“Please stay.”

“What if you find something out about me that you don’t like?”

He smiled lightly, “If you can stand the thought of the things I’ve done, I don’t think there is anything you can do that will make me feel differently.”

“Gaara, there are things about me you don’t know…”

“Likewise. We have a lifetime to find these things out together. Please stay in Suna with me.”

She was silent for what felt like forever. Gaara just held her till she finally spoke, “I’ll stay.”


	9. Chapter 9

“It’s not healthy, that’s all I’m sayin’,” one of the men behind Baki commented as they continued their walk, “It’s like they’re playing house like kids. What kind of teenagers shack up together and sleep in separate beds? It’s just weird if you ask me.”

“I suppose it’s a good thing no one asked you, Yura. I’d like for everyone, at least for the remainder of this trip, to refrain from speaking about the Kazekage’s personal business. I know that might be hard for some of you ‘hens’, but please try.”

“Come on, Baki. It’s not like he’s around to hear it. You have to deal with him more than anyone else, don’t you think it’s weird? Just a little? I saw him standing outside the room door once because she was taking a shower. They’re like little kids.”

“Yura, that’s enough! I know Lord Kazekage’s relationship is unique and it is no concern of ours. If anything, young couples could take a few notes from them on how to behave appropriately even under extreme circumstances. I’ll hear no more of it and I do not want whispers from the elders of the Land of Tea about it either. If I find out anyone from our group has been discussing it with the villagers, you will be disciplined. Is that understood?”

“Yes, General Baki!” the men of the small group stated in unison. 

“We are here to deliver the documents for the alliance and nothing more. I don’t want any drunken behavior. No sightseeing unless the elders ask for it specifically,” Baki hated sightseeing. He knew it was inevitable, but he made a point of never going out of his way for it. If some elder wanted to make some poor villager show him around, he’d make it as quick as possible. 

“Yes, General Baki!”

“Good. Yura, take a group and go set up arrangements at the local Inn. The rest of you, come with me and we’ll go meet with the advisors of the land.”

The group separated into two and went about their business. Baki’s group only stopped once they got to the home of the Feudal Lord of the area. The estate was beautiful, as were most of those in this class. There were large, flowering trees and the smell of Camellia sinensis plants that the land was known for. The house itself was at least four stories high and very traditionally built. It looked like a giant tea house.

Just through the gates, the female advisor met with Baki, “It’s good to meet you, General Baki. Did you and your men get a chance to see around the village on your way here?”

He lied, “Yes. It’s beautiful.”

“Wonderful. Please follow us inside,” the woman smiled, “This time of the year is when all the plants are in bloom. Just a walk through the village and you can smell all the tea brewing. This is when we make most of our export money as well.”

“I believe a good trade can be set up between our countries.”

“Oh yes, desert plants are so hard to grow here. We’ve wanted to get into making teas of them for a long time. I think both our nations could benefit greatly from it.”

“As does the Lord Kazekage,” he smiled lightly as she started to lead him towards the main house.

“Oh, I bet you didn’t see anything like this in the village,” she commented as they walked past several of the large trees. Baki wasn’t interested in seeing whatever it was, but he knew better than to refuse it, “It’s right there through the trees. See it? The house?”

He looked and nodded lightly, “Yes, it’s fairly run down. Why would there be a house like that on the property?”

“It’s a national landmark for us. It’s the Spider House of the Jorōgumo.”

“Oh?” so long as they continued walking, he’d let her explain it. 

“Jorōgumo, the Queen of the Arachnids. Before the Lord’s house was built here, it was the only house in the area. It’s been abandoned for decades though. We never tore it down because it’s so unique. Every spider you’ll find on the island is said to have been born in there. One look inside will have you believing it. Thousands and thousands of spiders. All living in there. All in harmony. So many different species. It’s quite amazing so long as you’re not scared of spiders. The Lord built his home next to it in order to keep it safe. He says that it’s history is important to our people and that it should be left alone.”

“How can a house of spiders be important?”

“Myth, mostly, it’s said that a family inhabited it before anyone else lived on the island. A woman and her two husbands. One husband, she loved dearly and the other was nothing more than to reproduce with. She was said to lure them in with her beautiful music playing, delicious food, and seductive features. Once she produced a child with the first man she married, she would morph into a spider and eat him.”

“Well...that’s...graphic. Seems unnecessary.”

“Not really. Lots of myths about demonic women end with the man getting eaten. She was called Jorōgumo. The Whore Spider and the Binding Bride.”

“What happened to her?”

The woman shrugged, “It’s just a story to explain the spiders. The Jorō Spider is the most prevalent species in the house. The female builds a large house like web and always has two males with her. It’s a beautiful spider. Very colorful with the most elaborate webs. Over time, these things just turn into big stories. I suppose it’s supposed to be a lesson of some sort. Not to be swayed by a womans charms or something like that. These things always have a moral, don’t they?” she smiled.

“Yes, they do. Jorō Spider, you said?”

She nodded, “Yes.”

“Funny, we had an incident about three months ago with a Jorō Spider. A husband and wife were bitten to death by one. One of their daughters lives somewhere on the island now with her grandmother. The other daughter is still in Suna,” he wasn’t about to give names. It was no one’s business.

“Oh, how strange. I didn’t think they were a desert species. They are also not aggressive by nature. Usually very calm spiders. Though I suppose if necessary, creatures will do anything to survive. It’s said that if you meet a Jorōgumo, the best thing to do to confirm it is to show her a mirror. She’ll be seen for what she really is and run away at the sight of her ugly form. Jorō Spiders don’t like mirrors. Maybe it encountered a mirror and became frightened.”

“Sounds like a pitiful creature.”

“Not at all. The myth is that they view humans as insects to be fed on. They are cold hearted, even in the saddest of situations. They are cunning and intelligent. Becoming exactly what they need to be to lure in their intended prey. Is story is that if a Jorōgumo were to reach the age of 400, it would become insanely powerful and endowed with magical abilities. That is when they begin to feed on humans. Before then, they simply kill their first mate, but after, they crave the flesh of young men.”

“I say that’s when fire should get involved,” Baki smirked as they neared the Lord’s house.

“Jorōgumo’s favorite prey is young, handsome men who are looking for love. When a Jorōgumo spots a man she desires, she invites him into her home, and he is usually never seen again. They can spin silk threads strong enough to ensnare a grown man so that he cannot escape. They also have a powerful venom that can slowly weaken a man day by day, allowing the spider to savor the long and painful death her victim suffers. They can control other, lesser spiders, even employing spiders to burn down the homes of any who grow suspicious of them. A Jorōgumo can operate like this for years and years, even in the middle of a busy city, while the desiccated skeletons of hundreds of youth build up in her home. That family who was killed, their home wasn’t burnt down, was it?” there was a teasing smile on her face.

Baki shook his head, “No. Guess that means we have no spider demons in our midst.”

“Of course not. It’s all just stories to tell the tourists, General Baki. I bet your men will behave while they’re here though, knowing that any beautiful woman in the village could be a spider waiting to eat their hearts out,” she teased.

He chuckled, “I suppose that’s one way to keep them in line. Thank you for the story, Miss, but I think it would be best to get these documents delivered as soon as possible.”

“Of course. Follow me,” with that, she lead them inside.


	10. Chapter 10

Even though Baki was not one for sightseeing, it was hard to ignore the influence the spider woman myth had over the Land of Tea. Even the room he was staying in had a very elaborate and rather beautiful carving of a spiderweb in the wood of the wall. When he first went in, he'd thought it was a real, but a second glance showed it for what it was. Just a very painstakenly carved mural. There were even two spiders carved out of wood and pressed into two points of the web with a large one between them. He assumed this was a depiction of the relationship of a Jorōgumo and her 'husbands'.

While he had little real interest in it, it was still a little curious to look at and think about. Most stories had some kind of basis in truth. Demons did exist, but not everything people said was true. He had a hard time accepting that the Jorōgumo was really a living thing. Perhaps in past it had been, but he had a hard time accepting that one could still be existing.

They weren't to stay in the Land of Tea long, but long enough to spend the night and a few meals. It appeared that even the food plates and tea cups were spider related. They all had very faint and very hard to notice spider webs painted into them. 

“They really do like their spiders here, huh, Captain?” Yura said softly as their food was brought.

“Every culture has something they believe in. That spiderhouse seems to be important to them. 

Yura cleared his throat a little, “About that spiderhouse. I went to see it, Captain,” he didn't bar his men from sightseeing if they had the time for it. Just because he didn't like it, he allowed it for them if it did not interfer with their duties, “Doesn't it all seem a little...familiar?”

Baki raised an eyebrow, “I'm not sure I understand. I haven't spent my time reading up about local myths.”

“Lord Gaara's...female friend.”

The captain clenched a fist, “I told you, Yura, I don't want that discussed here.”

“Captain, they said that Jorōgumo doesn't like mirrors because it shows them for the monsters that they are. Lord Gaara had the mirror in the bathroom of his room removed when she came to stay.”

“So based on the fact that the Kazekage, for whatever his personal reasons might be, had a mirror removed, his girlfriend must be a demon? Did you ever check to see if the mirror was broken or replaced?” he received no response to this, “Yura, I think you've had enough to drink for the night.”

“There's a lot more evidence for it, Captain,” the other man snapped, “The way her mother and step-father died. They are from the Land of Tea. I found people who knew their family. The woman always end up with two husbands. One who dies six months after they get married. All of them. Every single one of them. They left the Land of Tea, not because they wanted to, but because people were scared of them.”

“Yura! That's enough! If Chikako was some kind of demon, Lord Gaara would know.”

“What if he does know?”

“It would be too dangerous to keep another demon spirit around. Shukaku has always been a jealous spirit. He doesn't allow others, especially ones that are as powerful as this Jorōgumo is said to be, around. He would have moved to have Lord Gaara kill her. Now, Yura, the strange history of Chikako's family is no business of yours or mine. Now, if anyone else has something to say about it, I suggest you hold your tongue. I won't say it again. Is that understood?” even Yura nodded, but he didn't sit down to eat with the rest of the group. Instead, he left in a huff.

Baki couldn't understand why Yura was so insitant on discussing Gaara's relationship. To be sure, the two of them were unique, but that didn't demand the need for it to be discussed. At least not by people who weren't close enough to the Kazekage. Those people were few and far between.

However, looking at the spiderweb carving in his room that night, he couldn't help but think about it. What if it was possible that Chikako was a Jorōgumo and Gaara did know about it? If he knew about it, why would he risk his own life that way? It just simply didn't make any sense. Yura was just being paranoid. It was just a matter of hearing a story and finding ways to make it real. It was just a bad string of coinscedences that had lead Yura to this line of thinking.

He stood in the window and had an almost clear view of the spiderhouse. He could tell that it had once been a beautiful home, if small. His attention was brought back from the house as one of the Lord of the house's attendants knocked on his door, “Just checking to see if you needed anything else for the night, Captain Baki.”

“No. I'm alright. Thank you.”

“Very well,” she smiled softly before starting to close the door.

“Wait...there is something.”

“Oh?” she stood in the doorway and watched him as he turned back to the window.

“Tell me more about the Jorōgumo.”

She laughed a bit, “It's just a story. I'm sure I told you everything I know.”

“Humor me. Please. Just tell me one more time what you know.”

The girl nodded before starting, “Very well. Before people came to the island to stay, there was said to be a lone house, the Spider House now, and that inside was a woman with her two husbands. She was very beautiful and she seduced two men into marrying her. After the marriage to the first one, she revealed to both of them what she was. A horrible, ugly, disgusting spider creature. The first husband was forced to mate with her in that form and she ate him once her child, a daughter, was born. With the second husband, she was able to remain in her human form and be with him as a normal as any other family.”

“So that Jorōgumo was the only one?”

“Oh no. That is just the story of the house. The story of the Jorōgumo itself has evolved over the years. She is said to be a spider demon who seduces men through her whole life and eats them once she has them trapped in her home and web. She can take on the form of a beautiful woman to do lure them in.”

“You said before that she becomes who she needs to.”

“To be sure, but isn't that always a beautiful woman?”

“What if a man had no interest in physical beauty and valued something else instead?”

“I suppose. Jorōgumos are smart. If she knew that physical beauty wouldn't give her what she wanted, then I suppose she would take on the form needed and the personality needed. Do you think you have a Jorōgumo problem in Suna, Captain Baki?”

He shook his head, “No. Just...some coinscedences.”

“Well, you can always check to be sure. If she's decided that it's time to mate, she'll do anything to stay close to her prey. She'd even be willing to kill those in her way,” Baki had put little interest into the death of her parents. It was obvious what had happened to them, “She'd do her best to keep from being seen in reflective surfaces, even though they love water. Not just her face being seen, but any part of her body could reveal what she is in a mirror.”

“Is that the only way to check?”

“Only one we have stories about. They are very adaptive creatures. There has been some dispute over the nature of their magic though. Some believe that if one lives to be four hundred years old, it will grow to the size of a cow and it's powers will grow tenfold. However, others believe that it is only the four hundredth generation that does this. Then others think that it's passed down from mother to daughter. That the power his transferred until one collectively reaches four hundred years of age.”

“Which do you believe?”

She laughed, “None, of course. Just silly stories to tell the tourists. Gift shops around here make a killing off of selling Jorōgumo carvings.”

Baki nodded, “I would assume so. Stories of demons are always good for that sort of thing when they are just stories,” it wasn't like Suna was about to start advertising Shukaku.

“Good night, Captain Baki.”

“Same to you. Thank you for taking care of my men and myself.”

“It's my job,” she nodded before disappearing for the night.


	11. Chapter 11

“Is everything alright, Chikako?” Gaara called out softly through the door. 

This was their morning ritual. Gaara would either wake or having never gone to sleep, get himself cleaned up and dressed while she still slept soundlessly in her bed. He'd usually dressed in the bathroom anyway before she came to live here, so it wasn't a big change for him in that aspect. What had changed was that he liked to have breakfast with Chikako before starting his Kazekage duties. 

By the time he finished and came out, she would be waking. As with her daily attire, her sleeping clothing was well covering. Even Gaara was amazed at times for her ability to not seem bothered by the desert heat. Even he preferred a little less clothing when sleeping. She, however, wore thick, sand colored night gowns that went all the way down to her ankles and covered her arms to the wrists. He'd walk over and press a small kiss to her forehead before leaving the room so she could clean up and dress for the day herself. 

Gaara didn't go anywhere. He'd just sit outside the bedroom door and wait for her. He wanted to give her space to feel comfortable about bathing and changing her clothes in the same room he did. It felt almost... normal... to have thoughts about what she would look like nude, but Gaara didn't feel either of them would ever reach a point in their relationship where that would be something they had to worry about. He was as content with spending their whole relationship in separate beds with light kisses and hand holding. They'd decided that there was no reason for the way their relationship was had to change just because she was living with him now.

In fact, he was very happy with their lives together. It felt nice having someone so close and so often. He slept more nights than he spent awake. That was a new feeling for him. He felt more relaxed and clear headed with the sleep he'd been getting. Chikako seemed happy too. She'd insisted on finding some kind of work, even after he'd said she didn't need to. So while he spent his days taking care of the village, she had taken to working with the medical ninja. Even though Chikako wasn't a shinobi, she had a lot of knowledge about venomous creatures and antidotes, primarily spiders. Gaara felt like it was her way of making up for the Jorō Spider that had killed her parents. 

The only thing that concerned him was that she was spending more and more time quitier than usual. There was a certain amount of talking and communication between them that he had grown used to, but she had grown more distant than before. He was starting to wonder if having her in the same room was a bad idea. Maybe it would be best to offer her a room of her own. Gaara had thought it a good idea to have her so close at first, but maybe that was too much.

“I'm alright. Just not feeling well,” she called back through the door. 

“Do you need a medical ninja?” he didn't want her getting sick.

The door opened and she offered him a soft smile as she greeted him, “No. I think I just ate something that upset my stomach last night.

Gaara reached out and wrapped his fingers around hers. Her hand felt hot and feverish. His own body tended to run at a higher temperature than most. He suspected that Naruto's did too. For her to feel hot against his skin, he knew she had to have a fever of some sort. However, her face didn't appear sickly in the least. She looked as she always did, “You're warm. I'm going to get a medic...”

Her fingers tightened around his as he started to pull away, “Gaara, I'm fine. Really, I am.”

“But you're burning...”

Chikako moved forward and pressed her lips against his softly to cut him off. He was a little surprised by the sudden affection. Most times, if he wanted a kiss from her, he had to be the one to make the first move. The only time she made the first move in affection was holding hands. To have her engage him in a kiss was surprising, but still very nice. He could feel the heat of whatever fever it was she was going through in her lips. It was soft and nice. It made him feel warmer. He didn't want it to stop. His worry over her fever melted away. The warmth in her body didn't feel like sickness in the kiss. It felt like what he imagined love would feel like.

He'd no idea how long they had stood there like that. Hands held and lips pressed together. He supposed it didn't matter. It just felt good to have it happening. It reminded him of the way they'd kissed on his birthday. It had ended as a sad day for her, but when they had kissed had been wonderful. Their lips moving together, not just touching. It had been new for them both. It was more like the kissing he saw other couples engaging in.

The kiss broke and he started to move to pull her to the room they usually ate breakfast, but she stopped him just as she had about the medical team, “Chikako...?”

“Gaara...” she smiled softly before moving her free hand up and draping it over one of his shoulders. Her finger tips touched his neck lightly, “Gaara, keep kissing me.”

He swallowed hard. She'd only asked to be kissed once before and that was on his birthday and more as a way to distract from the fact that they had originally intended on breaking up shortly after it. Now that they were together for an indefinate amount of time, he hadn't expected something like that again, “Are you sure?” he asked softly. Even as unsure as he was about it, he still moved closer to her. His free hand found her waist and he gripped the soft cloth of her dress lightly.

“Yes.”

That was all he needed to hear. As eager as he'd been to experinece more intimacy, he had also been more than content and happy to not experience it so long as he could wake up in the bed next to her bed. 

Right now, her body was radiating heat and he felt a sense of comfort wash over him as they slipped back into the privacy of their bedroom. Gaara wasn't even sure where to begin. Nor was he sure just what all Chikako was wanting from him. Was it just for a more intimate kiss? Or perhaps even less than that. To just sit and press their lips together for longer than they usually did. What if she did mean to kiss more intimately than they had before? What was he supposed to do with his hands or even how to kiss that way? Did normal people have this sort of trouble when it came to this? Would it be wrong to just ask her?

“Chikako...?”

As a testament to their closeness, she seemed to know his worries and possibly share them. Even still, she seemed braver about it than he was. She lead him over to his bed and sat down on the edge of it. He followed suit and took both her hands in his. Perhaps speaking would just confuse things more, at least for now. 

They leaned into each other and kissed. They had done this enough times now that the simple act of putting their lips together was no longer akward or difficult. They knew how to do it without moving in too fast or hitting their noses together. It had become a soft and comforting action for the both of them. Gaara enjoyed coming back to their room at night and sitting for several long minutes with their lips just pressed together before she went to sleep.

Slowly, and a little awkwardly, their lips moved against each others. Gaara was surprised at how difficult it actually was. He supposed that it was his over thinking of it that made it so hard. He was sure that if he could just stop thinking on it, then it would be easier, but not thinking was easier said than done. Their timing was hard to get down. One of them would move to fast or two slow. Then other moments they would both try to turn their heads in the same direction at the same time. None of the awkwardness really mattered though. 

The warmth coming from her body washed over him as they kissed. That's what mattered. Their bodies seemed to know well enough what they were doing and there wasn't much they had to do to direct it.

Gaara sighed softly as he felt her hands come up to rest on his shoulders. As nervous as he had been on what to do with his own hands, they moved easily to her waist and rested gently as they kissed. His body knew what to do, he realized. It was incredible how normal he could feel when they were like this. It felt so nice to do something so normal. This was what other couples did. It felt wonderful.

He was sure Chikako felt the same. Her breath was hard and fast. Her fingers gripped his shoulders tighter and she even pressed closer to him. It was only their lungs seemed to be burning for air that they broke apart, “Are you... are you alright?” he asked softly. Her face was flushed and she was breathing heavy. She nodded, “Do you want to continue?” 

“Yes.”

He's sort of been dreading that response. What more could do they do? Gaara hadn't lied to Baki when he'd said that he knew what sex was, but knowing about it was a lot different from going through with it. He knew they weren't going to go through with that this moment, but what else was there? He didn't want to come out and just ask. Perhaps it would just be easier to keep kissing and let their bodies take care of it.

They leaned back together after a breath and their mouths locked toghether again.

For a moment, he wondered if this was some sort of dream. Had Shukaka allowed him to sleep and this was just some wildly inappropriate dream that he knew would never really happen? It seemed possible. At the same time, it seemed a natrual movement for their relationship. They had skipped many of the 'normal' acts. It only seemed right to get to them at some point, even if it was only one time.

His blood felt like it was on fire. It was just like when he used to kill people. How he felt to wrap someone up in his sand and crush them till blood shot out in a rain cloud of red. It felt like fire running through his body. All of it starting with the heat that seemed to be pouring from her lips into his body. He wanted it for as long as he could manage it. If she could let him do this all night, he would.

Her hands moved up over his shoulders and her arms wrapped around his neck. His arms did the same around her waist. They had sat close together before. He'd laid in her arms and slept many times. This felt different though. He pulled her as close as possible, but it didn't feel like it was enough. It was easy to let his body do what it wanted. He pressed against her and down towards the bed. 

At first, she responded well. Her body laid back against the pillow and he pressed down against her. It was the closest he'd ever been to someone without hurting them. He didn't want to hurt chikako. He wanted to feel good and make her feel good. Never in his life had he imagined that he would be laying in a bed kissing with a girl.  
It ended quickly though.

It was like someone flipped a switch and Chikako suddenly remembered her unease about being physically close to another person. Her hands pushed at his shoulders and he sat up to see the unease on her face. She looked sad and uncomfortable, “Chikako, I'm sorry,” he felt guilt, as if it were his fault. Gaara quickly moved off from her and the bed, “I did mean to do that...”

Her cheeks flushed as she sat up and looked down at her lap, “It's alright, Gaara. It wasn't your fault. I just... it's just hard...” he understood. It didn't upset him. At least not in the way he was sure it would other people. He was simply upset that it had happened this way, “I'm sorry...” she said quickly before darting away from him and the bed quickly. She disappeared into the bathroom and closed the door quick.

The Kazekage waited a moment before walking over and pressing his ear to the door. He could hear her crying inside. He'd never wanted to make her cry. Not like this. She'd endured through his confessions of the things he'd done in his past to other people. Even supported him when he occasionally became angry enough to feel that bloodlust again. Yet somehow he'd managed to make her cry with kissing. If she had to cry because of him, he would have preferred it to be because of one those things. Not because he'd tried to be intimate with her.

“Chikako?” he called out to her, but she didn't respond, “Chikako, I'm going to breakfast. Do you want to come?” there was no response again. He reached down and touched the handle. He could tell it was locked. She didn't want him inside to comfort her because it was his fault. At least that was what he was convinced of.

His first instinct was to call up his third eye technique and slip it through the small cracks around the door. He even began to close and cover one of his eyes. The sand started swirling to take on the shape of the eye, but it suddenly disappeared as he reminded himself that doing that was not the appropriate action to take, “Chikako?” he pressed his ear to the door as he called out to her again, “Do you want to come eat with me?” but all he could hear was soft crying.

If she did not want to be comforted or seen, then he needed to give her that space. So he left her there in the bathroom to go about his day. 

He felt cold.


	12. Chapter 12

Temari lifted up the kimono and looked it over. It was beautiful. Black with yellow trimming and a dark red sash for the belt. It didn't look too expensive, but it was of good quality, “It's nice, Gaara, but don't you think it's a little...uh...” she thought for a moment, “A little inappropriate?”

Her brother had asked for her opinion on the kimono that Baki had brought back from the Land of Tea. Apparently, Gaara had asked the man to find it for Chikako. She kind of wished he'd asked her opinion about it before having Baki get it and bring it back, “What do you mean? The Jorō Spider is her favorite species and that kimono is designed after it.”

The blond girl could see Gaara's good, but misguided, intentions. She'd been surprised when her brother mentioned getting Chikako a gift. They hadn't seem the gifting type. Even after living together for so long already, they were still a rather platonic couple. At least to outside viewers, “I know it is,” Temari wasn't a fan of spiders and found Chikako's liking of them a little unnerving. Then again, she found her brother himself a little unnerving.

“Then what's wrong with it?” the young Kazekage reached out and took the kimono from his sister.

The look on his face was one that made her feel bad about having not just told him that it was a good choice. She had never seen him look so unsure of something before. He'd put a lot of thought into this and she was telling him he'd thought wrong. Still, it was better to warn him ahead of time and let him decide if he still wanted to give it to her, “Well the Jorō Spider is what killed her mom and stepdad. Do you really think she'd want to be reminded of it and wear something designed after it?” she could see it in his eyes. He understood, “Gaara, has she talked to you at all about that?” 

“...no,” he said it rather solomnely. 

Temari had been expecting that for an answer. For all the time they did spend together, Temari rarely saw them actually speaking. Their relationship was so fast and slow at the same time. It gave her a headache to think about it. As far as she could tell, they weren't physically intimate as of yet, but they were living together and sleeping in the same room. It was hard to tell where they were rushing things and where they weren't, “I just think it's something you should think about before giving it to her.”

“I have thought about it, Temari. It's her favorite spider and she'll like this,” he seemed determined to give it to Chikako.

“Gaara...” she started, but her brother put a hand up to stop her. At first, she thought he was stopping her because he didn't want her opinion anymore, but then he moved towards the window of his office. 

It was late and Gaara was having one of his no-sleeping nights. Temari was only awake because it was her night to do night walks around the building. She watched Gaara move towards the window and look out, “What is it?” she moved up next to him and looked out. There was a large, white bird soaring over the village, “What is that? I've never seen a bird like that before.”

“Birds like that don't fly in the desert...” Gaara said lowly, “Temari, go stay with Chikako. I want you to guard her.”

She was in now place to protest as the sand swirled up under her brother and he floated out the window. If Gaara felt that Chikako needed guarding, then that meant he felt the bird was some sort of threat. If there was a threat, it was his place as Kazekage to defend against it. For all the fear the village still had for her brother, he was their leader and he had come to care for them greatly.

She made her way quickly through the building till she came to the bedroom the two of them shared. She expected to find Chikako in bed sleeping, but instead the girl was standing in front of the window, “Where's Gaara going?” she asked softly. The girl seemed to know Temari was there even though the blond girl hadn't made a sound in going in, “Is everything alright? That bird is so strange looking...”

“Everything is fine,” it wasn't a total lie. As of yet, Temari wasn't sure if the village was in any kind of danger or not, “Gaara just wants to make sure that the bird isn't anything to worry about.”

Chikako seemed to see through that though, “Then why did he send you here? He wouldn't do that if there was nothing to worry about.”

“Right... well...” Temari moved through the room and stood next to the other girl in the window. She could see the bird just hovering in the air. Birds definitely didn't do that. Especially with Gaara hovering so close to it now, “It's probably best if we don't stand too near the window,” if an attack was going to happen, there was a chance that the building itself would be attacked. Being an open target in the window was never a good idea.

The blond nin put a hand on the other girl's shoulder and tugged her away from the window gently before closing the shutters. She would have preferred to be out checking on things with her brother, but she had her orders. He was Kazekage and it was her duty to obey those orders. At least for the time being.

She shuddered a little as Chikako walked over to her own bed and stuck her hand into the the glass bowl that was sitting on the nightstand. The spider inside crawled onto her hand and she held it like someone would hold a kitten. Temari was sure the spider had grown twice it's size since the last time she'd looked at it. She wasn't even sure what species it was, then again she didn't know much about spiders.

Had she ever really just talked to Chikako? No. Temari was sure they never had. Since it appeared her and Gaara were going to be together for the foreseeable furute, it was probably best to at least talk to her once, “So, uh, what kind of spider is that?” she couldn't take her eyes off it.

Chikako turned her dull eyes up to Temari, “It's not a spider. It's an arachnid. All spiders are arachnids, but not all arachinds are spiders.”

“Oh. Sorry. Didn't know that. What kind of arachnid is it?”

Temari shuddered as the thing moved on her hand. It was bigger than her hand. It had ten legs and had two main body segments. Other than having two extra legs, it looked like a very large spider to her. It was at least six inches long. She knew that Gaara had already had two bowls brought in for it because it had outgrown the previous ones. She had to wonder just how big that thing was supposed to get, “It's part of the Solifugae class. People call it a camel spider or a wind scorpian, even though it's neither. Solifugae are their own type. There are quite a lot of arachnids that fit into this class. Almost a thousand known.”

She wouldn't deny that it was a little interesting, but she still couldn't help but think of how disgusting that thing was. Gaara cultivating cacti was what she thought of as out of character for him, but it was still understandable. Chikako with her spiders, however, seemed almost scary, “Aren't you worried it's going to bite you? Isn't it poisonious?”

“Not at all. This breed does not use venom. They use their jaws to bite onto their prey. See...” she lifted up the creature and Temari had to fight not to step back as she saw the two large teeth, “They chew and saw their prey while secreeting a digestive fluid to break down the flesh and tissue. Then they can suck the broken down flesh into their stomachs.”

“That's...” Temari felt like she was going to throw up as Chikako explained it and kept holding the thing up for her to see it, “That's interesting.”

“They are fast too. They can run up to ten miles per hour. They breath with a trachea, which allows for faster oxygen intake, so they can move faster.”

“Oh, isn't that the spider, sorry, arachind that chases people and eats camels?” which would explain it's name now that she thought about it.

Chikako shook her head and finally lowered the creature to her lap. It actually sat there like a cat. Temari couldn't see how someone could train a spider, but apparently Chikako had, “No. They don't chase people or eat spiders. They eat bugs, small birds, and lizards. And they chase shadows, not people. The sand gets hot and they like the shade. If you move, it's moving to stay in the shade. I'm not sure why people think they can eat a camel. They might sit under them for the shade though. Maybe if the camel was already dead, it might feed on one. They can't jump, so I don't see why people would think they could get to a camels vital parts.”

It was hard to figure out how she felt about this information. It was hiddious, but Temari knew she shouldn't judge, “They don't chase people and they aren't venomous, so I guess they're really no threat to us then.”

“Of course not. Their bite might be painful, but it would take quite a lot of time for it to take down a human.”

She didn't like spiders or arachinds, but she supposed Chikako saw something in them that most didn't. Sometimes the scariest and most disgusting looking things weren't really all that bad. Gaara had been seen as a monster and was now the leader of their village. So she supposed that a camel spider could be a pet, “Does she have a name?”

“He. And no. You shouldn't name pets. Only a mother or father should name something and since I'm not his mother, I don't have the right to name him.”

“Ooookay...” the conversation had been unsettling and she'd realized that Chikako was a lot stranger than she'd thought she was before, “Well... I suppose that's that then.”

There was a loud commotion outside and both girls turned to look at the window, “Gaara...” Chikako said softly. She moved to put the arachind back into it's bowl and follow Temari towards the window. 

The blond girl opened the shutters and they both looked up at the sky. Gaara was no longer floating on a cloud of sand. Instead, he was surrounded completely with the sand. Temari doubted Chikako could see it with her untrained eyes, but she could see the small sand eye. Gaara was locked in his ultimate defensive position.  
Something bad was happening.

“Stay here...” Temari said quickly before turning and dashing out of the room. Gaara was in trouble. Sand was trickling down from his orb and she could tell that something was wrong. Somehow, who ever was controlling that bird thing was wearing Gaara down.

She could hear Chikako running behind her, but the girl was quickly left behind. She shouldn't have expected her to stay. Still, she made it to the roof much faster than Chikako. Baki and several others were already there too. They all just stood helplessly as they watched Gaara fight. There was nothing any of them could really do. She wasn't even sure her wind attacks would be of any help. Someone able to get to Gaara like this was most certainly out of her league, “What's happening?!”

“It's the Akatsuki,” was all Baki said.

“The Akatsuki? What do they want?”

Baki shook his head, “I don't know. We've been looking for them, but I never imagined they would come for us. Not so openly.”

Temari stared in horror as something started to fall from the bird, “What... what is that?”

Baki's visable eye was wide, “He means to attack the village now. Everyone take cover!”

Whatever it was, it was growing as it fell. Temari realized it was a bomb of some sort. It had to be. She, and the others, threw themselves to the ground in the hopes of getting some kind of cover. She saw Chikako burst through the roof door and watched Baki grab her quick to drag her down to the ground.

Temari heard the blast, but it wasn't what she was expecting. When her eyes cracked back open, she saw the night sky above them completely blocked out by sand. Gaara's sand. It was spread over the whole village. He'd protected them all, but at a heavy cost. Gaara's body was falling to the ground fast. 

“Gaara!” it was the most emotion she'd seen out of the other girl, except the time she tackled Temari over trying to step on a spider. Baki grabbed the girl around the waist and started to pull her back towards the door. 

Temari watched as her brother's body was grabbed up by the tail of the strange bird, “Gaara...” she had never thought something like this could happen. This wasn't like what happened at the Leaf Village. This was different, “Gaara!” 

Baki was still wrestling Chikako and the others didn't think to grab Temari as she jumped from the roof and landed easily on the ground. She started chasing after the direction of the bird and was soon met up with her brother Kankuro, “We have to get him back!” she used to be scared of her younger brother and in some ways she still was, but he was her brother. She'd seen the changes in him since their time at the Leaf Village. He was a different person now. He'd fought and saved their home, “We have to go after him!”

“You stay here. I'll follow them. Someone needs to stay behind and make sure his place as Kazekage stays safe,” the council did not fully approve of Gaara and his methods. They'd take any reason to elect someone else to the position. They'd declare him dead in a heartbeat.

Most times she would have argued with him about who should go and who should stay, but she didn't this time. Temari just nodded and took back off towards the main building. People everywhere were in a panic. Someone had to stay and keep things together with Baki. They had to get a team together to go after Gaara, but Kankuro would keep track of them.


	13. Chapter 13

“I'll take it from here...” Baki said lowly as he dismissed the men guarding the holding cell, “Has she tried to escape at all?”

“She's barely moved at all, Captain. Do you really think this is nessicary, Captain? She's just a kid.”

He eyed his men, “So is Gaara and his siblings, but would you turn your back on them if you were on their bad side?”

That seemed to shut them up and they headed off. Baki carried a covered plate towards the cell. It was a special cell. It was where the last person who had been the carrier of Shukaku had stayed till his death. It was made to hold demons, “Wake up. I know you're not asleep. I brought you some food.”

Chikako's body was laying in the back of the large cell. Her body was draped in the kimono Gaara had had him buy for her in the Land of Tea. Her face was dirty and streaked with tear stains. She stirred and crawled towards the front of the cell a bit before just huddling up in the center, hugging herself tightly, “Has anyone found Gaara yet?”

“No. Kankuro was found. Barely alive. If it wasn't for the Leaf Village medical shinobi girl, he'd be dead right now,” he set the plate down and nudged it through the bars of the cell. The chakra holding allowed it to pass through, but just barely.

“Kankuro...” she said his name softly before reaching for the plate. She pulled the cover off and gasped a little, “W-what is this?”

A dead bird, still whole, sat on the plate, “That's what spiders eat, isn't it? At least ones at big as you would.”

Her eyes went wide as she stared up at him, “I'm not... I'm not a spider. I don't eat this kind of stuff. It's not even cooked. Baki, why are you doing this to me?”

“I know what you are,” he narrowed his eyes at her, “Would you prefer I serve up one of my men for you? Sorry, but that's not going to happen,” his reason for having Chikako imprisioned after Gaara's abduction and the reason he told everyone else were different. He had to get proof before he could admit his true reasons, but the false ones he'd come up with were crediable enough. It was easy to say that she had to be some kind of spy for the Akatsuki and that she really was some kind of shinobi. It wouldn't be the first time in history someone unassuming as her turned out to be a spy and secretly very powerful.

“I don't know what you're talking about!” tears welled up in her eyes and she covered her face with her hands before he could see the tears fall, “Please, just let me go! I haven't done anything wrong!”

“Don't lie to me, Chikako. I went to the Land of Tea. I saw the spiderhouse. You were planning on killing Gaara, weren't you?” even though his reasons for putting her in here at first were simply because of that, he was starting to believe that she might have been working with the Akatsuki as well. It wouldn't be that strange to think that the Akatsuki would have enlisted her because of what he knew she was, “I saw you on the roof too. No one else was looking, but I was. I saw what you're trying to keep hidden.”

“It's not true! I love Gaara!” she broke down into loud sobs as she curled up on herself on the dirt floor, “I would never hurt him! Gaara's the only person who's ever really cared about me, why would I hurt him?!”

“I know you don't want to do it, but you and I both know what you were. Just admit it. Admit what you are. Chikako, I saw you on the roof,” it had been mere coinscedence that he'd dragged her to the ground the moment the bomb went off. 

She had burst through the door not too long after Temari had. He could see the sleep and stress in her eyes. Baki supposed that was what caused it. He had no doubts that she loved Gaara with all her heart. Hadn't some of the stories he'd listened to in the Land of Tea said that the demon did love the men? Chikako loved the Kazekage, but that didn't change what she was. 

Everyone's back was to her and people started getting to the ground as the strange thing was starting to fall towards the village. That's when it happened. 

It was hard to see in the dark, but her eyes glazed over into a pitch black coloring. Like two, well shined marbles. Her mouth was open in shock as she stared up at the sky and he saw the chelicerae and fangs. They pushed the sides of her mouth outwards a bit and were terrifying to see. Her skin was a dead gray color in the moonlight. And her hands, clasped up to her chest in fright over what was happening outside, were long and her fingers came to claws at the tips. The shadow of her body cast by the moonlight showed that there was more to fear from her than that. It was large and showed that of a giant spider. 

Gaara's sand cloud blocked out the moon just as he grabbed for her and pulled her down and the bomb went off. When he sat up again, she was human again, except her eyes. They were still pitch black for a moment longer. 

“Tell me, Chikako, were you enlisted by the Akatsuki to kill Gaara? Tell me now.”

“I love Gaara!”

“I know you do, at least you do now. But did you always? Were you sent to him to kill him? Is the reason the attacked because you backed out of your deal with them?”  
She shook her head fast, “I love Gaara! I never want to hurt him!”

“Being what you are, is that why you haven't tried to seduce him? You love him and you don't want to have to kill him. Admit it. Tell me what you are. I want to hear it in your voice.”

Baki stepped back from the cell a bit as she looked up at him. Those black eyes again. The tears dried up fast. There was anger in those dark orbs, “I won't hurt Gaara!”

“Will you betray him and take another man in his place so that you can be with him?” her dark eyes widened a little, “I told you, I know what you are. Whore spider.”

“Don't call me that! I don't want to be with anyone other than Gaara!” saddness returned to her eyes, “I won't hurt Gaara...”

He could see this was going to be hard. She wasn't anything like what the stories he'd heard in the Land of Tea said she would be. They all painted the Jorōgumo as a monster seductress. A powerful woman who used tricks and sex to get what she wanted. Taking man after man into her web as mates and food till she found two to marry and reproduce with. Chikako was nothing like that. She was so soft and small.

He knelt down in front of the cell and looked her over before speaking. She was like a scared child, “Chikako, I know you love him and you don't want to hurt him. Despite that, I do need to know the truth. I need to hear it from you. All of it. He is my Kazekage and if you are what we both know you are, then I cannot allow you to stay here in this village. You're a danger.”

The girl sobbed and withered against the dirt floor for a minute before she looked up at him again. She looked tired, “I don't want to hurt people. I won't do it. I don't care what I am. I won't hurt Gaara. I won't hurt anyone. I don't have to be Jorōgumo. I can just be me.”

“Is that really something that is in your control?”

“...” she buried her head into her arms as she muttered, “For now...”

“What do you mean? Please, Chikako, I want to help you. If there is a way we can be sure that you are no danger to the Kazekage or Suna, then I can let you out of here.”  
“Baki... Baki... Mother always told me that I had to do it. That one day I would have to find a mate and that it was my duty. I never wanted it though. I just wanted to be left alone... but Gaara... I didn't seek him out. He found me. He loved me. He didn't see me the way other people did. He knew what it was like to have a monster inside. He isn't a monster, he just has one inside of him. But I am a monster. I'll never hurt Gaara.”

“Chikako, I need you to focus. Just tell me what you meant by 'for now',” she was sidetracking herself by talking about Gaara now.

Slowly, she climbed up to her knees and crawled over to the front of the cell, just a few feet away from him now, “I'm a Jorōgumo. Before me, it was my mother, and her mother, and her mother too. It's always the first born daughter. When I turn seventeen, I will become a full Jorōgumo. The first in a long time. The last one was four hundred years ago. She was killed in the spiderhouse in the Land of Tea by her second husband. He grew fearful of her and set her on fire while she slept. He killed all but one of her children. He missed one egg. That's what I'm descended from.”

“So it's a collective four hundred years needed to build you up to full power then?”

“Yes. Mother made sure to have me when she was young so that I wouldn't inheirte it too soon. Had she waited too long, I would have flourished before I was a teen,” it made sense, “Mother was excited that one of us was finally going to become what we really are. Fully and completely. I didn't want it though. I never did.”

“Is there any way to stop it? Don't you have to mate first?”

Chikako shook her head, “No. All before me had to, but I don't. I will gain full power no matter what. When I turn seventeen, I won't be able to control myself anymore. I will become the monster of legend that you heard about. I was going to leave Gaara. I was going to go somewhere where I couldn't hurt as many people. I was even considering killing myself. If I die before I mate, then the cycle stops with me.”  
Baki could see how sad she was. She didn't want to hurt people. From what it sounded like, the Jorōgumo enjoyed being what they were; but Chikako didn't, “Does Gaara know what you are?”  
She shook her head, “No... please don't tell him when he's found. Please. I'll do anything.”  
“Tell me how your mother died. Did you do it? Did she try to convince you to kill Gaara?” Baki wasn't about to make promises about release with the information he had now.  
“Mother wanted me to mate with Gaara. She said it didn't matter who or what he was. She knew I loved him and that meant that I had to mate with him and start the next generation. The first child of the four hundredth Jorōgumo is always the strongest child. With Gaara's powers and strength, it would have been a powerful child. I didn't want to though. Dai didn't want me to either,” he remebered when Dai had tried to come to him about how dangerous Chikako was, “I think Mother killed them both. My Jorō spider never would have done that, but mother would. I think she thought that by killing herself and Dai that I would be forced to do what she wanted me to.”

“You really won't be able to control yourself once you turn seventeen?”

Chikako stayed quiet for a long time, “No... No, I don't think I will. It's hard enough for regular Jorōgumo to maintain normal lives and resist acting on every urge they have.”

“Is your family the only one out there?”

She shook her head, “No, but I've only met one other once. When I was really young. I don't know where they are now. They aren't as old as my family. She was one of the ones who chose to give into her powers and urges completely though. Mother said she was jealous. She kept a collection of skulls in her house. Right in the middle of a city. No one ever noticed.”

It was just like the stories he'd heard in the Land of Tea. These creatures were good at hiding. Just like real spiders being able to hide in a house for weeks on end before being noticed by someone, “Chikako, if you're truly as dangerous as all this,” though he'd yet to see her do anything other than seeing some of her true form, “I can't let you go. I can't let you out of here.”

“Then kill me!” she snapped and lunged at the cell bars. She moved faster than he'd seen her ever move before. He barely even saw more than a flash of the yellow bits on her kimono. She was up against the bars and one of her hands was through the bars. He'd managed to fall back before she could get him, “Kill me! I can't do it myself! You think I haven't tried?! Kill me, Baki!” her voice was different. It was thick and heavy. Much more so than it had been before. It was filled with pure rage.

“I can't do that, Chikako. It's not my place to decide what to do with you. That descision belongs to the Kazekage and the council.”

“No! You can't tell Gaara! Don't tell him!”

“If you didn't want to be found out, then you should have left him. I'm guessing the reason you didn't is because you're already losing control. If you really wanted to keep him safe from you, you would have left with your sister,” who he was assuming wasn't a Jorōgumo, “But you didn't. The demon in you is already taking control and you want to devour him. You admitted it. A child between you two would be powerful. More so than any other man available to you. You've already lost yourself, Chikako.”

She collapsed and shook her head fast and hard, “No. No. No. No. I won't hurt, Gaara. I love, Gaara. I'll never hurt, Gaara. I'll never mate with him. No. No. No. No.”

“I'm sorry, Chikako. I really believe your relationship with him has been good, but I can't risk you killing him or anyone else in Suna. Nor can we just let you out into the world. For all we know, you'll continue to come back to try to devour the Kazekage. Once Gaara returns, he will be informed of what you are and we will make an informed discision on what to do with you. I'm very sorry it has to be this way, Chikako. I do believe you are a good person, but like Gaara, you have a monster in you. Unfortunately, yours is who you are, not something that was put in you. I truly am sorry.”

He climbed to his feet and started to leave. He could hear her sobbing. He could hear her begging to be killed as he left. Baki had meant it when he said he was sorry. Gaara and her didn't deserve this. He just hoped that Gaara could be found soon and that he could put his feelings aside enough to do what needed to be done.  
A monster like her couldn't be let loose.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First chapter written from Chikako's standpoint. The truth of a few things revealed.

“Tusara, how many types of Jorōgumo are there?”

The pretty girl smile bright and sat up a little straighter, “Three, Mother.”

The older woman nodded, “Very good. Now, Chikako, what are these three types?” but Chikako wasn't paying attention. Her eyes were turned to the nearby window and she was watching the wind whip streams of sand through the empty, night street outside, “Chikako!”

Her head snapped around, “Yes, Mother?”

“What are the three types of Jorōgumo?”

“Oh... uh...” she thought for a long while, but nothing more came out and her eyes slowly started drifting back towards the window.

“Secondary Jorōgumo, like myself,” Tusara started, “Previous generation Jorōgumo, like you mother. And Future Jorōgumo, like Chikako.”

Their mother sighed lightly, “Correct...” she turned her eyes on Chikako again, “Chikako, what are the differences between the three?” when she got no answer, she walked over and slammed the window shutters closed, “Chikako, what are the differences between the three Jorōgumo?”

She bit her lower lip a little before answering, “Secondary Jorōgumo are not able to use any magical abilities, but they do retain the ability to charm men. They cannot produce Jorōgumo, but they are no danger to them.”

“Good. Continue.”

“Previous generation Jorōgumo who have chosen to marry and mate before they reach the collective four hundredth year. They can have many reasons for chosing to do this. Many do not believe they can survive till they reach that age and others fear that they are close to be found out for what they are. Others truly have fallen in love and desire to pass on the curse.”

Her mother's face hardened a little, “It's not a curse. Now continue.”

“Future Jorōgumo are the daughters of the Previous generation Jorōgumo. It is being entrusted them to reach the four hundredth year. The have the choice of trying to reach that or to one day chose husbands to mate with.”

“Very good. Chikako, you are fifteen and will be sixteen in a few weeks. In one more year, your powers will have reached four hundred. I gave up that option and chose to pass it to you. Do you understand how important this is?”

“Yes, Mother... but...”

“What?”

“But why do I have to do it? I don't want to be a monster. I want...”

“What? You want to be a normal girl and marry Gaara? Do you really think he'd have noticed you at all if you weren't what you are? If it wasn't the powers you had drawing him to you? Shukaku only tolerates you because you are considered a lesser demon at the moment. He finds having a female demon so close to be endearing. If you weren't what you are, Gaara wouldn't care about you at all. Do understand?”

Chikako looked silently down at her lap and nodded.

“Good. Now, Tusara, please go help your father,” the younger girl nodded and got up from her seat to leave. Once gone, her mother turned on her again, “Speaking of Gaara... What are you planning with him? You don't really think you can get married and have some kind of life with him, do you?”

“No...” it was what she wanted, but she knew it wasn't what she was going to get, “We're going to break up after my birthday. We already talked about it. He thinks that I'll be happier if I can find someone else to be with.”

Her mother smiled, “Isn't that sweet of him... You haven't told him, have you?”

“No,” she shifted in her seat a little, “Why can't I marry him? I don't want to be Jorōgumo. Why can't you be it? Why can't Tusara be it? She wants to. I just want to be with Gaara. He's nice to me...”

Her mother sighed, “That's how I felt when I met Dai. I fell so in love with him.”

“That's why you married dad. So you could have me and then marry Dai...”

“Yes it is. I did love your father, just not as much as I did Dai. I wasn't strong enough to wait seventeen more years to gain full power. I knew I wouldn't be able to control myself that long. I decided it was for the best to mate and pass it on to you,” she sat down next to her daughter and stroked her hair lightly, “I know you love Gaara. It's hard ignore the feelings.”

“Maybe... maybe I can do what you did? Why can't I just be with someone else first and then go back to Gaara?”

The woman shook her head, “If you do that, then yout child will come into her full powers much too quickly for her to be able to handle it.”

“So I have no choice?! I love Gaara.”

“I don't understand why you've never accepted this, Chikako. You're what we've been working to become for four hundred years. This is what we've been waiting for. You should be proud of yourself.”

“If I do this, will I be able to still be with Gaara? How different will it really be?”

“No. If you decide to stay with him, he will find out and he will kill you. It's one thing to feed on their life force once you become a full Jorōgumo, but until you die, it won't start over...” she grabbed her daughter's chin and forced her head up, “Don't you even think of killing yourself. It won't work.”

“I... I wasn't... I swear...” it was a lie. She already knew full well that she couldn't kill herself. Chikako had tried before. More than once, “I just want to be normal...”

“You are normal. Chikako, you're not one of them. What you are is normal for who you are. Remember that Jorōgumo we met before? The one who refused to mate and lived in the city?” she nodded, “She's dead. They found her. They didn't know what she was, but they knew that she was killing those men. Had she done the proper thing and mated, she would still be alive. Once you gain your full powers, you'll understand.”

“I just don't want to leave him...”

The woman wrapped her arms around Chikako, “I know, but that feeling will pass. We need to talk about what we're going to do with you though. The mistake most make is staying somewhere populated.”

“I have to leave? Will you all come with?”

“Tusara and I could, but Dai wouldn't be able to. You'd kill him.”

Chikako couldn't believe what she was hearing. She couldn't be with Gaara. She couldn't be with her family. She couldn't even kill herself. She had to be something she didn't want to be, “W-where am I going to go? I don't want to be alone.” 

“You won't be alone. You'll find plenty of men to keep you company.”

Chikako had heard that before. Though she knew all those men were going to die. She would drain their life force. From everything she had learned her whole life, she wouldn't be the same person once she turned seventeen. She'd be someone completely new. Someone she didn't want to be, “But where will I go? I like Suna.”

“We're water people, Chikako. You'll find a waterfall. That's where we belong. The Land of Tea is where we come from, but it's far to populated for you to be able to survive long enough to get strong. You'll have to start out somewhere smaller before you can go back into more civilized lands. The Land of Water would be for the best.”  
She went wide eyed, “The Land of Water? But that's so far away...” she didn't want to be that far from everything and everyone she knew, “Mother, I don't want to go that far away.”

“It's a small country, Chikako. It doesn't concern itself with the politics of the other countries. The islands are cut off from others, for the most part. It'll be a good place for you to come into your powers. We've already set up for you to leave after your birthday. It'll be good for you to start getting settled in there.”

She felt tears welling up in her eyes. Chikako didn't want to leave. Why was her mother just telling her about this now? Why not sooner? Had she known this before hand, she might not have let herself get so close to Gaara, “But I... I don't want to go...”

“Chikako, you won't be alone. Tusara and I will come to visit.”

“But what about money? Where will I live?”

“That's why you're going. You've always refused to use your powers, so now you'll have no choice. If you want to survive, you'll start acting the way you should have always been. Even Tusara uses her charm to get things, but you refuse to do it. You even go around looking like this,” she motioned to Chikako's dull and drab look.  
“I like looking like this. Gaara likes me like this.”

“What Gaara likes doesn't matter. Enjoy your time with him for now, but you can't change who you are. If you stay with him, you'll end up killing him. I don't care how powerful Shukaku is. He's no match for what you are.”

She couldn't handle anymore right now. The young girl pulled herself away from her mother and darted off to her bedroom. She slammed the door shut and sat on the edge of her bed. She hated herself. She hated her mother. She hated her family. 

Chikako didn't want to leave Gaara or hurt him. Would it really be that bad if she stayed with him? No one had seen a full Jorōgumo in four hundred years. The story could have been altered so many times over the years. There was no telling how it would really be. And what if that one had been the first? If so, then who was to say that the first one had only been the way she was because it had been in her personality to be that way? What if when she came into her full powers that she wouldn't be able to maintain herself as she was now? Maybe it just depended on the person. 

Her eyes looked to the glass bowl sitting on her nightstand. The Jorō Spider from the Land of Tea was inside of it. Chikako knew she'd never be able to even try to have a life of her own if her mother was around. Dai wasn't much better. He'd think she was a monster whether she could prove him wrong or not. He'd be more than happy to send her away.

Biting her lower lip, she scooted over to the bowl and slipped her hand into it. The large spider crawled up her arm and stopped on her shoulder, “I'm your queen. You know what I want you to do. Wait till the morning when I've gone to Gaara's for his birthday,” the long legged creature slid down her shoulder and a thin thread of silk led it down to the floor where it skittered off, “A Jorōgumo is a Mistress of Manipultion...” that's what her mother had taught her.

With that, she curled up on her bed and buried her head into the pillow to muffle her already soft toned crying.


	15. Chapter 15

It was like waking up from a bad night sleep. Gaara didn’t sleep much, but he was used to feeling more well rested. He remembered feeling cold and alone this time. Like he did as a child. He just sat with his knees pulled up to his chest. No one loved him. No one cared where he was or what had happened to him. 

What had happened to him?

He remembered Temari disagreeing with his choice in a gift for Chikako. He remembered sensing danger. He remembered a large, strange looking bird. He remembered the draining fight. Then darkness.

Had he died? Did he at least manage to save the people of Suna? Would they remember him for it or would they only remember the monster he’d once been. The monster that was inside of him. 

One-Tail.

Where was he? Gaara couldn’t feel him anymore.

There had been a pulling feeling. He’d tried to resist it, but he was so tired. He had felt something slip away and that was when it had gotten cold. So cold. He’d never felt cold like this before. One-Tail always keep his blood boiling.

Would Chikako miss him? What would happen to her if he gave up? She would probably have to go live with her sister and that old woman who hated her. Gaara knew she would leave him one day. She had to. For his and the village’s safety. He knew the truth, or at least some of it. Would he remember her in death?

Chikako had made him happy. Given him hope at being able to have a family of his own one day. Showed him that there were those who would look past his flaws and love him as more than a friend. He would miss laying his head in her lap and napping. He would miss how it felt to hold her hand or to feel her head on his shoulder as they stargazed. 

Was his body even still in Suna? Gaara had no way of telling. If it wasn’t, would they look for it and give him a proper burial? Or would he simply fade away into history and be forgotten?

How long had he been lying in this darkness? Did it really matter? He was dead now. He was sure of it. There was a time when he’d wished for this and not it had finally happened.

Naruto.

His kindred spirit. Gaara could feel the energy of the hyperactive leaf ninja flowing through him. It made him feel warm and the darkness lightened just a little. It made him feel less alone to think of the blond boy.

There was another energy. One he was not familiar with, but he could feel it’s kindness. It was close to the warmth he’d felt when Chikako had held his hand for the first time. It was giving. Even though he couldn’t recognize the energy source, the more it surrounded him, the more he felt like he’d been around it before. That it was somehow a part of his life before now and would be from now on.

He could more than feel Naruto now. Gaara could see the bright haired man. His hand was out. Reaching to pull him out of the darkness. It felt hard to move and he had to will himself to get his arm to reach up towards the open palm.

Gaara remembered Chikako and the village. They needed him. Whether Chikako wanted him truly or not, whether the village feared him or not; he promised himself to be there. He had to move.

“Gaara!” it was Naruto’s voice. It wanted him to move. He had Naruto, his brother and sister, a student, all of the villagers, and Chikako. He would never be alone again. Not anymore. It never had to be that way again.

“Wake up, Gaara! Wake up, dammit!”

And he did.

He reached out and grabbed the blond’s hand and felt a sharp tug. The light was nearly blinding, but the warmth felt good on his face. He could feel two hands holding his own. One was warm, but the other was cold. He opened his eyes slowly and saw Naruto’s face smiling down at him.

It was quickly replaced as three younger, female nin knocked Naruto out of the way and began doting on him. Baki shooed the girls back and helped Gaara to sit up slowly. His body felt stiff and sore. He’d never felt like this before. Not even after his fights with Naruto and Rock Lee.

The Kazekage was shocked by what he saw around him. There were dozens of Suna villagers. All of them smiling, cheering, and calling his name. They were here for him. They came for their Kazekage. To help him as he had helped them. Gaara was speechless. What could one say in a situation like this? He’d never prepared for something like this and never thought he would have to.

Gaara found out that he didn’t have to say anything. They didn’t want thanks. It was enough to have their Kazekage alive and safe, even if a high cost had been paid to do it.

As he rested in a tent, the leaf ninja and Baki filled him in on what had happened. Honored Sister Chiyo had given her life to bring him back from death with the help of Naruto. He ordered her body to be preserved so it could be given an honorable burial back in Suna. Baki informed him that she had been the one to seal the One-Tail inside him as an infant. Gaara didn’t hold that against her. He’d learned how to handle that to an extent. Her life would live on through him.

Not that it mattered anymore. No one had to tell him that the demon inside of him was gone. He could feel the weight of it missing. Something that had been a part of him forever was just gone. Surprisingly, he was a little sad. It felt cold without the One-Tail.

Gaara knew one way to replace some of the warmth. To hold Chikako’s hand and rest his head on her shoulder. He eyed Baki as the man brought in some food, “Did Chikako not come?” he frowned deeply at the look on his general’s face, “I can understand if she didn’t. I will see her back at Suna.”

“Gaara…” the man sighed before continuing, “Perhaps we should let you rest for now. We will be heading back in the morning. You, Kakashi, and Gai’s teams need to regain your energies.”

He didn’t like this, “Was Chikako hurt?” had he not protected the village as well as he had thought, “Is she alright?”

Baki shook his head, “No, Gaara, she’s not.”

“What happened?”

“I really don’t think we should…”

“Baki,” even without the demon, he knew how to be intimidating. It was a matter of tone of voice.

“Very well. Chikako was detained after the fight on the ground that she assisted in allowing the Atkatski into Suna. While detained, she confessed to the murder of her mother and stepfather. She also confessed to being a danger to you, our Kazekage,” he spoke fast, not wanting to give Gaara a chance to speak, “She did not confess to helping those that abducted you. Instead, she did these things of her free will. We had planned to detain her till you returned, but she escaped.”

Gaara’s fists clenched the thin sheet across his lap. His mouth twitched, but Baki continued, “Gaara, she killed three of my men. She tore open their throats, plucked out their eyes, and even drained their bodies of their blood. She used a great amount of violence. The reports state they died of their throat injuries, but she continued to mutilate their bodies.”

“Stop...lying…” he said lowly, “She couldn’t do that. Someone must have broken in and taken her.”

Baki swallowed hard, “I assure you, she did.”

“You don’t understand her…”

“I do more than you do, Gaara. Your judgement has been clouded by her magic. I didn’t want to talk about this now...I have proof in Suna. Gaara, Chikako is…”

“A demon,” the red haired youth stated to Baki’s surprise, “A spider demon. I assure you, Baki, I know everything I need to know. I have for well over two months.”

“Ga-Gaara, you knew?”

He nodded a little, “I suspected something when she asked the mirror be removed from our bathroom. Even more with her family history. It was the information brought back by your men from the Land of Tea that lead me to the Jorogumo. I didn’t want it to be true, but I’ve seen her shadows when she’s upset. She isn’t as good at hiding it as she thinks she is.”

Baki seemed confused and startled by this information, “If you knew, why would you allow her to stay? Being what she is, she would kill you. How could you risk such a thing? There is no telling the damage she could have done.”

“She wouldn’t hurt me or the village. She was in control. I knew her boundaries,” though he couldn’t forget the day they shared heated kisses and twined in each other's arms on her bed. Knowing what he did now, he was glad she had been able to restrain herself. He was content to never know that level of intimacy if it meant keeping her at his side.

“There is more to it than you know, Gaara.”

“No. So long as we never...never made love...she would never have reason to harm me. We can continue on as we were. If she lashed out, it was out of fear. I have to find her.”

“It’s not that simple, Gaara. This is not for your safety, but for the safety of Suna. She was going to become a monster and she knew it.”

“...I’m a monster.”

This was not an easy conversation for either of them. Chikako was one of the good parts of Gaara’s new life and now it was gone, “You had a monster inside of you and it made you act monstrous. We did not help in that matter, but you were never truly a monster. Chikako is a monster. She killed her own mother and she admitted the danger that she is.”

His pale fingers clenched the sheet tighter, “I could have handled it.”

“I know you want to think you could, but what she is can’t be controlled and she knew it. Chikako knew when you came back, you would be responsible for dealing with the situation. She made the choice so that you wouldn’t have to.”

Gaara was silent for a long time. He didn’t want this to be happening. She should have been here with him. Should have told him the truth and allowed him to accept it. He regretted having not admitted to knowing sooner. Even if he didn’t know everything, he was still sure he could have helped her handle it, “It’s too late to find her, isn’t it, Baki?”

“Yes. There are more important matters right now, but we should warn our allies that she might be coming. She is highly dangerous in her true form.”

“No. She won’t go anywhere populated. As you said, we have more important matters at hand. You should go rest before we leave in the morning,” he wanted to be alone. Baki seemed to understand that and left without protest.

Gaara didn’t know how to handle his feelings. Sadness, anger, and regret all at the same time.

When Chikako had agreed to live with him, he’d become comfortable with the idea that would be his life. He’d even been happy with the idea that they might marry one day. Maybe, one day in the far future, they could have adopted a child and raised it together.

But that was gone now.

She was gone now.


	16. Chapter 16

Gaara shot up out of his bed in a cold sweat and breathing heavy. He shook his head lightly before looking towards the open window. The moonlight glinted lightly on a spiderweb that filled it. It happened like clockwork. Once every six months for the past five years.

He pulled the thin cover off his legs and shivered a little as he felt something skitter across his lap. It was a large Joro Spider. At least five times the average size of it’s species. It was larger than the last one and he wondered if it was even the same one.

He reached down and the creature crawled into his palm. He hadn’t realized it had been six months already, “I have nothing new to say to her. I’m asking, again, that she stop this. Whatever she has become, she has enough human left inside her to send you as a reminder of our love. If she cared, truly still cared, she would either allow me to help her or allow me to move on.”

The spider crawled up to his shoulder as he moved to turn on his room light. Despite the war, having the One-Tail removed, and his stress filled Kazekage duties; Gaara had aged very little over the years. He smoothed out his sleep ruffled hair before heading towards the window, “What does she have to say?”

The creature skittered down his arm and up into the web. It began moving around very fast. As it worked out the message, Gaara sighed softly. It was a crude web drawing of a large spider and a human with a heart between them.

After things settled after the war, which took several years, Gaara began researching the Jorogumo stories from the Land of Tea. He never searched for Chikako, but he learned all he could of her kind. There were many conflicting stories about the demonesses, but all stated that they sustained their lives by mating and devouring men in some way.

He even went to the Land of Tea on business and was able to speak with her sister, Tusara. The girl had aged greatly since he last saw her. Once she realized Gaara knew about her family and what they were, she gave up information freely. It was then that he knew the extent of Chikako’s condition.

Tusara stated that once her sister turned seventeen, she had lost all her format abilities to charm people with her looks and began to age rapidly. A fact their mother had kept from them. She said if he did find her, she would kill him without hesitation. That all her former love for him would be gone. She likely wouldn’t even remember who he was.

Tusara admitted she knew where her sister was, but refused to tell him. She stated that Chikako wouldn’t hesitate to kill her as well. That she would see Tusara as a female intruder on her territory. Something her mother had lied to them about. Most likely with the intent of Chikako killing her sister one day anyway. She did tell him that it was far away with very little population nearby. Just enough to sustain herself.

When questioned about how she would protect herself should that population figure it out, Tusara laughed.

_’Is she doesn’t have them thinking she’s a goddess, she’ll just wipe them out.’_

Gaara had a hard time seeing Chikako as a demon menace or killer. After the war, Baki had confessed that Chikako’s escape had not been nearly as bloody or violent as he’d described. That she had actually only paralyzed the guards. He had been furious with the man at first, but he understood the reasoning. He had a village and new alliances to take care of. Running off after a girl would have been a foolish distraction.

It had been a total of eight years since the war ended and five years since the spiders started showing up. It started when Temari and Kankuro began suggesting he start thinking of a wife and family of his own. As strange as it felt, he agreed after the council brought up the same thing and he decided to consider it.

With that in mind, his advisors had taken it upon themselves to set up dinners with various women of high standing. Gaara had no care for what kind of deals could be made or for their standing in society, but he met with them anyway. They were good women. Smart and beautiful, but he didn’t find himself completely attracted to any of them.

Even still, he requested a second date with one of them. She was the daughter of a feudal lord, very bright, and very pretty. On their second date, he took her to the roof to see the stars as he once did with Chikako. It had been a good evening and he’d planned on courting her further.

However, the next morning, the village of Suna was in chaos. Every building, market stall, bench, and anything not inside a building, was covered with spider silk. Some was woven so thickly that people couldn’t open their windows. The panic came as people tried removing the silk with knives, five, and hands. Egg sacks buried in the silk began bursting open and thousands of tiny spiderlings started flooding the village.

It took days to clear it all out. Amazingly, no spider bites were reported.

Once it was all cleared, Gaara found a small Joro Spider in his window sill. Draped over his sand gourd was the tattered remains of a kimono. Gaara didn’t sense any danger as he picked up the garment. It was dirty and torn up, but he could make out the yellow and red colors.

He recognised it as the kimono he had wanted to gift to Chikako. Gaara realized she had been watching him all this time. Maybe through spiders, but she had brought the kimono herself, he was sure of it. That she could get in and out of Suna undetected proved some of what Tusara had said about her power.

Since then, like clockwork, a Joro Spider would show up in his room and weave the same message from her into it’s web. Always the same crude drawing of a spider, a man, and a heart.

Except this time. For the first time in five years, the spider started weaving again. It draw a water drop and a strange looking, oblong shape. It didn’t make sense to him no matter how long he stared at it. Gaara knew it had to be important and it was useless to try to question the spider.

Was Chikako finally wanting to see him or was she in some kind of danger? He was sure the markings were a clue to where she was. For the first time in years, he thought about the first time he spoke to her. He’d returned Tusara home and saw her star gazing from her window. She’s been so nervous to let him watch with her and he had been anxious about holding her hand, but they both did it.

“You know where she is, just lead me there,” he told the spider. If she was in danger, he didn’t have time for guessing games.

The spider’s response was to climb up into the corner of the window and start spinning a new web. Gaara realized it was starting an egg sac, “You’re not leaving this time, are you?” not that he expected a real response, “Is she in danger?” he didn’t know why he was bothering with this, but he couldn’t seem to help it.

“Gaara?”

He turned around quick and saw his brother standing in the doorway. It was rare for him to be caught off guard. He hadn’t realized how focused on the spider he’d been, “Do you need something, Kankuro?”

Temari had moved to the leaf village some time ago after marrying a shinobi from there. Kankuro was still here in Suna, but was unmarried, “I was doing a round and heard you talking. Just thought I would…” his eyes widened a little, “Gaara there is a huge spider crawling up your arm.”

The Joro Spider had finished its egg sac and was trying to get up his arm now, “I know. It’s okay. Everything is fine, Kankuro. You can leave.”

“That’s a Joro Spider. Does this have to do with Chikako?” he’d confided in his brother the truth after the spider silk incident. Other than himself, Kankuro was the only one who knew the truth. Baki had taken his part to the grave a year ago. Kankuro had promised to do the same, provided they were sure she would not pose a danger to the village.

“Don’t worry about it. I have it under control.”

“You still love her after all this time, don’t you?”

“She needs my help,” he stated, narrowing his eyes a bit. Gone were the days of Kankuro fearing him. They were truly brothers now, but that meant that Kankuro couldn’t so easily be brushed off.

“And how do you know that? And you didn’t answer my question, do you still love her?”

Gaara gave a throaty grunt about the last question before motioning to the web, “She’s told me where she is.”

“Looks like a water drop and a blob to me...And you still didn’t answer my question. Do you still love her, Gaara?”

He knew he wasn’t getting out of this conversation, “How can I not be? She never lets me forget her. Tusara says she wouldn’t recognize me and would try to kill me, but…” he looked back at the web drawings, “Why would she keep doing this if she didn’t remember me? No matter what has happened to her, she still makes the effort to let me know she cares.”

“Or maybe she hates the fact that you got away and wants to lure you back to her so she can finish you off.”

Gaara’s fingers clenched into a fist. He couldn’t bring himself to believe that. She would have told him where she was sooner if that was the case. She loved him and now she needed him, “No. That’s not it.”

“How can you be so sure?”

Defeated, Gaara looked at the floor, “...because I still love her.”

Kankuro smirked, “Guess we’re going on a vacation then.”

This caught him a little by surprise, “What?”

“When’s the last time we took a day off? Never. Might as well go track down a spider demon that might be the love of your life and might try to kill me. Sounds relaxing enough. Not like we have anything that needs to be done here that can’t wait a bit.”

Gaara was hesitant to agree. It had been too many years since he’d seen Chikako. There was no telling what sort of person she was now. It was easy to be in love with a memory. What if he couldn’t love who she had become? What if she couldn’t love who he was and decided to kill him? Could he bring himself to defend himself and kill her if needed? Gaara didn’t want answers, but he knew he needed them.

“Very well. We will go,” he pointed to the web, “We need to figure out what that means.”

“We’ll work on that tomorrow. Get some sleep and don’t let that thing out, he pointed to the Joro spider sitting on Gaara’s shoulder.


	17. Chapter 17

“This can’t be the right place,” Kankuro threw the map down before looking around the forest lined beach, “There’s nothing here.”

Gaara picked the map up and looked it over, “It’s the only place that matched the web marking and it’s in the Land of Water, which explains the water drop. The map says there is a waterfall up the mountain with a lake and a small village about three miles from it. They don’t import or export anything and it gets very little in outside travellers. It’s perfect and lines up with what Tusara was willing to tell us.”

“You want to go to the village first or straight to the waterfall? You think those people know what she is?”

“Village first,” he still needed to prepare himself for the worst case situation. Gaara had been trying to do so since the day they left Suna, but his mind refused to reopen the part of himself that had once been willing to kill his own siblings without remorse, “They may have useful information about her habits.”

Kankuro nodded and the siblings started into the forest. It was a few hours before they said anything, “Gaara, are you going to try to bring her back to Suna?”

“Nnnn….” he grunted a little.

“You know, if she’s no stronger than any of the tailed beasts, then there might be a way to seal up some of her powers. If that’s what she wants.”

Gaara had considered several options of that kind, but he couldn’t do that to her. Even if it was what she wanted, he couldn’t subject her to having to live with something inside of her that couldn’t come out. He had spent his whole childhood that way and he couldn’t make someone else go through that. There was no telling how it would affect her anyway. It was one thing to seal a demon inside of a human body, but she wasn’t a human. If some of the stories were to be believed, even appearing human was simply a matter of some kind of magic. If they attempted to seal some part of her away, it could destroy her mentally or prevent her from appearing human. That was if she even had it in her to appear human anymore. 

Tusara had told him that Chikako would only pretend to have humanity in order to lure in prey. She told him that there had not been a fully formed Jorogumo in four hundred years. While other family lines of their species once existed, none had managed to make it to that mark yet. Chikako was the first. She said that it was likely that her sister was the last. That there were no other blood lines left that they knew of. After all, it was hard to tell if anymore existed. It wasn’t as if they went around announcing themselves to the world.

“I want to go see her alone first,” that much, he had decided on. Kankuro being there might be stressful for her. If she attacked him, he would have no choice but to defend his brother. Better to confront her alone first.

Kankuro shook his head, “I can’t let you do that, Gaara. We have no idea how strong she is.”

“You can let me and you will let me,” it was said with that voice he’d never seemed to have forgotten how to use.

“I hate feeling unprepared…”

Gaara knew the best way for him to prepare. He had to go in there with the mindset that if she were a lost cause, he had to put her down. She wasn’t a human and she could pose a great danger if she got off the island in a state of no control. He knew it was the right thing to do.

“You head to the village. I’m going to the waterfall,” he stated sternly as he started to move off the path.

“Gaara, wait,” but he didn’t stop, “Be careful! If you’re not at the village in two hours, I’m coming for you!” but he still didn’t respond, “Three hours! I’ll give you three hours!”

Eventually, Kankuro’s voice disappeared and he allowed himself to take in the surroundings. It was nothing like Suna or Konoha. It was forested, but in a different way. The types of trees were more lush and covered in vines and brightly colored flowers. It smelled salty from the ocean. The little bit of sun that poked through the plants shone brightly, illuminating everything, rather than being light points in a dark forest. The strangest thing he noticed was the lack of wildlife.

There were no sounds of animals anywhere. Not even a bird. Gaara didn’t see any of the usual signs of life either. All he saw was various spiderwebs. Intricate ones that would spread out across half a dozen trees or so. The few spiders he actually saw were much larger than he was used to seeing. He wondered if that was because of Chikako. They were flourishing here because of her. Gaara wondered what life here was like before her and what it would be like if she were to die or leave.

He paused as the sound of running water hit his ears. He could hear the water moving loud and fast. While Chikako had always seemed so in place in Suna, he knew that this was her natural environment. He tried to imagine the girl he used to know sitting on a rock beside the lake at the base of the waterfall. Tried to think of her sitting there in the kimono he had wanted for her and smiling at him. 

As he pressed on, it wasn’t the sight he wanted to see.

The water in the nearby river he was following darkened. It seemed to suddenly get deep. Like the drop off in the ocean from the beach into open water. This was a dangerous place and he could sense it. The webbing in the trees got thicker and he started using the sand in his gourd to start tearing it out of his way. The sound of the waterfall was becoming deafening.

The lake was deep and dark. The rocks surrounding it were coated with slick moss and slippery silk. It was upsetting to see the graveyard. All around the lake were bones. He saw some animal ones, but most appeared to be human. Some part of him wanted to believe that she would not have partaken in eating humans. He had hoped that she had retained her humanity enough to resist that urge.

He tipped one of the skulls on the ground back with his foot and realized it was somewhat fresh. It couldn’t have been more than six months old. There was still a few small bits of flesh on it, but not much. What caught his attention the most was the body it was attached to. The clothing was rather feminine. From what he remembered, this demon was supposed to feed on men. Gaara was well aware of men who wore women’s clothing and even men who saw themselves as woman. But the bit of body that was left was just as feminine as the clothing. Had Chikako resorted to feeding on anything and everything? How accurate could stories about something that hadn’t existed in four hundred years really be?

The loud splash made his head shoot up and he looked around fast. There were ripples on the surface of the water that didn’t seem to come from the waterfall. He didn’t take to using weapons often, but he pulled his kunai out and stood a strange stance a few feet from the water's edge, “Chikako?” he hadn’t even sensed anything. Or perhaps the sense of danger about the whole place was all he was supposed to feel.

The sand swirled around his feet. He didn’t have to control it. It knew he was in a dangerous situation. It would react before he even had a chance to think about it. For the moment, Gaara was relying on that. That if he couldn’t do what was needed, that it would at least allow him a chance to escape and replan with Kankuro.

The water started to ripple again and his eyes widened at the sight. It was hard to see, but the sun poking through the leaves and webs showed a large figure under the water surface. It was much larger than he had been expecting. The stories he read mentioned it being the size of a cow, but this was much bigger than that. 

Gaara prepared for the worst as the water started to bulge and break over her head and was surprised when what came out was surprisingly human. It wasn’t the Chikako he remembered, but he knew it was her. Some part of him had trouble realizing that she had simply matured. She was older now, like he was. It was natural that her features grow with the years. She was a woman now and a beautiful one. It was as if all of Tusara’s former beauty had been given to her. Gaara had never seen her as anything less than beautiful before, but he knew that most had considered her rather ‘homely’. He could see the difference now.

Her brown hair, wet from the water, looked like melted chocolate flowing down around her head and over her shoulders. It was well down to her waist now. Her face had thinned a bit and her features were a little sharper. Her eyes weren’t dull anymore. Instead, they were like shined, black pearls. Her skin had lost it’s desert tan and was more milky in color. It made her hair look darker. 

Gaara had to remind himself that she was a possibly dangerous creature now and to keep his eyes on her, even as his cheeks warmed from her state of undress. They had made a point to have as little physical contact as possible and to keep as much privacy between them when living together, he had never seen her dressed in anything less than a thick dress. Gaara had not attempted intimacy with another woman and he was having trouble keeping his eyes on her now. He hadn’t wanted the first time he saw a woman this way to be with him holding a kunai in defense.

Her breasts were heavy and her hips rounded. It was pleasing to see and he reminded himself that she was built for seducing prey. She was supposed to be pleasing to look at. He watched as the skin from her mid-thigh down was black and slowly fading to the milky white that the rest of her body was. He wondered if she really was as large as the shadow under the surface had looked and she was simply that quick at changing into her human form. Her fingers slowly morphed back into normal ones from what appeared to be some kind of claws.

He tried to keep his eyes fixed on her face as she walked closer. She stopped, just outside of his arms reach. The sand moved slowly around his feet, as if it were trying to decide whether to put up a defense or not, “Chikako?”

The change in her face was a quick one. Her features didn’t change, but she looked like the girl he remembered. Her small smile was sweet and her eyes softened. She even fluttered her eyelashes a little as she looked at the ground. A pink tone went to her cheeks as she seemed to realize her nudity. Her arms crossed her chest in an attempt to cover herself, “I’ve missed you, Gaara.”

Her voice was all he needed to hear. The kunai dropped from his hand and the sand retreated back to the gourd as he stepped forward. He didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around her and pull her close. Her body felt cold from the water. She felt small in his arms. He had always been on the short side and it felt good being able to hold her like this. The woman he might have married had been taller than himself. There was just something about being able to feel her head under his chin that made it feel nicer.

Gaara felt her head tilt under his chin and sighed softly as he felt her lips press against his neck. Her soft kisses moved along the skin lightly till he moved his own head to press their lips together. It was better than when they had last kissed. Neither of them were shy anymore. It wasn’t an awkward feeling this time. As her arms slipped around his neck, he moved his to wrap around her waist. His weight shifted as he pressed her back and they both started to stumble to the ground.

Gaara felt like this was where he needed to be.


	18. Chapter 18

The tone of the village was off putting. Kankuro wished he’d been more insistent on going with Gaara. He’d rather be risking his life with a spider demoness than walking around this place. It was the middle of the day and it was eerily quiet. The trees were thick and the whole place was dark. There were no sounds of animals anywhere. Kankuro was starting to wonder if he’d even seen a bird flying overhead since they got here.

It wasn’t just the lack of wildlife though. There was no sign of human life either. What if Chikako had wiped them all out? Demons weren’t always in the right of mind to not wipe out their foodsource. If that were the case, maybe she had starved to death and that was why the Joro Spider had wanted Gaara to come here. To find her body and give it some kind of burial.

The houses weren’t that different from the ones in Konoha, but they were more run down. Or perhaps it was just the lack of personalization. The place was surrounded by a lush and colorful tropical forest, but this place was very dull looking. None of the houses had flowers or painted shutters or anything really to make them stand out. They were just sort of there. There were no vendor stalls or people out trying to sell things.

He had seen villages like this before. Mostly in places that were hit harder by the war than others. Places that had struggled to rebuild and seemed to fail at doing so. He had poked around about the island more than Gaara had. They had rented a boat and had to sail it here themselves because no one else would come. There was a bad history of people coming here in the past and not coming back. This wasn’t a place hit by the war. It was just a bad place. 

The air was humid and thick. At first, he thought it was just the tropical environment, but Kankuro quickly realized that it was more than that. His whole body felt on edge and he was cursing himself for having not brought more weapons. Normally, it was impossible to get him to go anywhere without all of his puppets, but this time all he had with him was Karasu. The well trusted puppet was strapped to his back as usual and he was prepared to use it if necessary. It seemed strange that he would need it here, but the hair on the back of his neck was standing up and he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched.

The houses would creek a little as he walked through the village, but nothing that didn’t sound any different from the usual settling of wood. But he felt the first spider as it dropped on the back of his neck. He reached up and slapped at the tiny prick feeling he felt and sneered at the smear mark on his hand where the crushed critter now was. It reminded him of the time when that bug boy in the leaf village and he fought.

One spider wasn’t that strange. Not given what he knew was living on the island. Part of him hoped that it wasn’t some kind of offspring of Chikako’s.

Though his hope for that went out the window as he felt another, this time up his pant leg. He shook it out and stomped on it. There was another up his sleeve that he slapped at till it fell out. They were all small, but they were everywhere. He flailed as he felt them in his hair now too. Kankuro didn’t understand what was happening till he looked up and his eyes went wide.

The sun poked through the trees and showed the hundreds, if not thousands, of webs covering shadowing the run down village. The tiny spiders were floating down on nearly invisible threads of webbing. They were attacking him, at least that was how it felt. They swarmed his face till he tilted his head back down and started swiping at it to get them off. That’s when he realized they weren’t just landing on him. They were crawling. Not biting, but crawling.

Long, silky, shimmery threads of webbing were being draped over him. They were trying to wrap him up like some kind of gigantic fly. Reaching up, he grabbed the pull to release Karasu, planning to use the puppet as some kind of umbrella, but he found himself unable to free the puppet. The webbing and tiny spiders were clogging up the pull trigger.

“Damnit!” he snapped as he started running. The spiders didn’t let up and he ran towards the nearest house. The door opened easily and he ducked inside, slamming it shut behind him and leaning back against it as he flailed at the tiny spiders still lingering on him. Even once he was sure they were all gone, his body felt itchy. He could still feel their little legs all over him and the webbing was still everywhere.

“Ah!” he snapped his head up at the small gasping sound to see a woman standing in the door away across the room. The house was dusty and bare. There were no tables or chairs or anything at all. Just a thick layer of dust and a few cobwebs in the corners. 

She was holding her robe closed at her chest. Her fingers were long and thin. The robe slouched down around her bare shoulders, spreading across her body and exposing the tops of her breasts. Kankuro was no stranger to a woman. He had yet to take a wife, something the council had tried to convince both his brother and himself to do for fear of their deaths and Temari’s son being allowed to become Kazekage and allowing the Konoha to take control of Suna. He had refused to go through with a forced marriage and, in the end, Gaara had refused to do it as well. Didn’t help the spider attack Suna faced because of it.

The puppet master had lost his virginity at the age of fifteen to a Suna kunoichi of the same age. She hadn’t been as talented as someone like himself or his siblings, but she had moderate skill and she had been pretty. His father’s idea of a sex talk was telling him to just not do it, which had really just pushed him into going through with it sooner. While he didn’t make a habit of bedding women often, he did so when he felt attracted to a woman and she was receptive to him.

This woman wasn’t unattractive, but there was something _off_ about her that Kankuro couldn’t seem to place. She looked much like any other woman. Long, dark hair and milky colored skin. Most who lived on the islands tended to be tanner, like those that lived in Suna, but she was extremely pale. As if she hadn’t seen the sun in months. However, after seeing how the webs and trees covered the sky, he could imagine how easy it was for that to happen. Her eyes were big and wide, likely from the shock of a strange man coming into her home. But there was a...dead...quality to her eyes. They were wide in shock, but none of the emotion seemed to be there.

“Uh...sorry, Ma’am…” he didn’t really know what to say. Kankuro had actually thought the town was dead. But there she was. Standing there barefooted in nothing but a robe that was barely covering her.

“You missed one,” she said softly before pointing at his shoulder, her robe dangerously close to slipping free from her hand.

Kankuro tilted his head and saw the tiny spider crawling up towards his face and he swatted it away. He was amazed she could see if from that far across the room, “You, uh, you live here?” it seemed a silly question, but what else was there to say. She nodded, “Listen, you seem to have a spider problem around here. You got any clue as to why?” if the villagers weren’t aware of Chikako, he didn’t want to send them into a panic. Though he had to wonder how many people there actually were. Maybe they just thought they were cursed with the spiders.

He was surprised when she didn’t respond. Instead, she started walking closer to him, her eyes scanning him over. He shook his head a little. While he hadn’t felt any of the spiders biting, that didn’t mean they hadn’t. But his head felt fuzzy. In any other situation, he knew what he would be doing. He would be telling her to stay where she was and keeping a weapon ready. Yet he was just watching her move closer and finding it difficult to move at all.

The robe dropped from her body and he knew something was wrong. Normally, the sight of a naked woman was something rather pleasant, but his head just felt fuzzy and off. She had a beautiful body, but Kankuro couldn’t help but feel as if there was something else he should have been doing. His mind just went blank as he watched her come up in front of him. She slid her fingers over his shoulders and he couldn’t stop wondering why his heart was pounding so hard. His muscles twitched, as if they were trying to get him to do something. Muscle memory was good for a lot of things. It could help one remember what to do in a given situation. Yet it didn’t seem to be helping him right now.

Her fingers pushed over his shoulders, unclasping the straps that held Karasu in place. His gut clenched and he knew he was supposed to stop her. It was wrong and went against all of his training to let someone take away his weapons. Especially his most prized weapon. Still, it clattered to the floor and he couldn’t seem to care about it.

The heat coming off her body reminded him of how warm it used to be standing next to Gaara when the One-Tail was still inside of him. Inside of his head, he kept telling himself that something was wrong. That there was somewhere else he needed to be. 

But then her warm lips connected with his and Kankuro forgot everything. 

Their fingers worked quickly at his clothing. His hood fell off and she dug her fingers into his hair as he moaned lowly. Her long fingernails scraped lightly against his scalp as she started moving backwards. Eagerly, he followed, not wanting to lose the feel of her lips. Her kisses made him feel light headed. Like he did after a few drinks. Kankuro had never slept with a woman this way before. He took his time to get to know them at least a little bit. But as wrong as it felt right now, he couldn’t see himself stopping it.

She lead him back to a small room and fell on top of her as she stumbled back on the bed. Dusted puffed up around him and warning sirens went off in his head, but all he could think about was how good it felt pressing down against her. She was beautiful and warm. Her legs wrapped around his naked hips. Kankuro scarcely remembered getting that fully undressed, but it seemed to happen in the haze of things. All that mattered was how wonderfully he fit between her thighs.

The puppetmaster groaned loudly as she tilted her head back and squirmed against him. His lips found her neck and he thrust up against her, the cry of pleasure from her mouth encouraging him. Had he ever been with a woman and had it feel this good before? Kankuro wasn’t sure. Her body clenched around him so tightly and it resisted a little as he tried to pull back to set up some sort of thrusting pace. It didn’t want to let him go.

Kankuro began thrusting eagerly, her fingers digging into his shoulders and her pleasurable cries getting louder. It felt like a vivid dream. He couldn’t imagine this really happening. His whole body had this light and fuzzy feeling.

He gasped lightly as she used a surprising amount of strength to roll them on the bed. The dust tickled his nose and he reveled in the feel of her weight on his hips. She straddled him and started the rocking of her own hips. There was always something special about this position. Looking up to see a woman on top of him, her hair flowing around her shoulders, her head tilted back in pleasure, feeling the pressure of her weight. It was always wonderful.

Kankuro looked up to see it and took in the sight of the position he liked so much. Her creamy skin looking bright against the drab coloring of the house. Her silky hair like wet ink flowing over her pale breasts. Her mouth open, panting the most beautiful sounds. And the giant spider clinging to the ceiling above her head…

There were few moments in his life when he felt that instant sobering feeling. Seeing Gaara lose control of Shukaku was one of them. And now, seeing the largest Joro spider he’d ever seen in his life, clinging to the ceiling above the head of the woman he was bedding. All the fuzziness went away. He was suddenly aware of the warning bells in the back of his mind. Karasu was not with him. He was nearly defenseless. How could he have let himself get in this situation?

The spider seemed to realize that he knew it was there and it’s legs twitched. The woman atop him reached down fast and pinned his shoulders down as she continued to ride him. He reached up to grab her wrists to pull her grip off and found it was like iron, “What the…” he pulled and pulled, but her hands wouldn’t budge. She seemed to get upset as his body quit responding the way she wanted it to. She tried desperately to grind her hips down against his to get him aroused again, “Get...off...me…” he growled as he twisted his hips to try to throw her off entirely, “You’re messing with the wrong guy!”

She seemed surprised at his going on the defense. Her eyes widened as he managed to throw her off and into the wall against the bed. As beautiful as her sounds of pleasure had been, the screech of anger were that awful. He had to resist reaching up to cover his ears. He was sure this was how she preyed. She was used to men who couldn’t fight back or couldn’t resist covering their ears. Kankuro was determined to not let her get the upper hand again.

For most, getting his clothing would be the first thing to go for, but Kankuro knew even that could be dangerous. He had felt her strength and he had a feeling that spider had something to do with this. Was that Chikako? Was she that large spider on the ceiling? At the moment, Kankuro was ready to accept anything. What was it about the Jorogumo he had read about? They seduced men in order to eat them? Wasn’t that it? If so, it made sense that she somehow had the ability to alter his judgement to get him in here. Maybe that was what the tiny spiders were for. Perhaps they bite the victim and injected them with some kind of aphrodisiac to make men more susceptible to her advances.

She had done a good job at getting him stripped bare, but he wasn’t completely without defense. Without taking his eyes off her, he reached down for the one kunai she hadn’t managed to remove from his body. It was strapped around his ankle and he yanked it free as she came out of her stunned state and started to climb to her knees on the bed. Her body moved strangely. It was twitchy and disjointed, like the way a spider moved. She didn’t seem as lovely to look at anymore.

Her pretty, ink colored hair was now a mess. Her creamy skin looked more bluish, corpse pale. Her big, wide eyes now looked like sunken, black pieces of coal. Her long limbs bent awkwardly at the knees and elbows. Arching up around her body as she lowered her torso down. She looked like one of those jumping spiders. Kankuro shuddered and tried not to think about what he had been doing with her. He had to stay focused. He wouldn’t her get in his head again.

As she launched herself off the bed at him, he realized that she was not used to fighting. She was incapable of thinking strategically. This creature, whatever she was, ran on basic urges. She had failed at whatever sort of mating she had been attempting and was now switching straight to the urge to feed. It likely would have worked on men with lesser skill and training than himself. As it was, she threw her body at him in a wild manner, not bothering to protect herself in the slightest.

Kankuro fell back on the ground of his own free will, allowing himself to go down as she landed against him. He thrust the kunai up and under her ribcage. It was hard to decide which was worse at first. Her screech of rage earlier or her howl of pain now. It wasn’t hard to figure out once the spider on the ceiling seemed to cry out in pain as well. The combined sound was nearly deafening. He didn’t let up though. He thrust his weapon as far into her body as he could. She flailed against it, but he didn’t give up. He could feel the blood dripping down against his bare abdomen. 

Finally, the screeching stopped and her body went limp.

With a hard grunt, he pushed her body off his. It wasn’t lost on him that her body felt heavier than it looked. A dead body always felt heavier, but for some reason, this felt even heavier than it should have dead. He laid on the floor panting a little before the loud thudding sound caught his attention. Standing slowly, he walked over to the bed and poked the dead spider body with the tip of his kunai. It was dead too, having fallen from it’s spot on the ceiling.

Between the two large body segments, there was a gaping wound. One that his kunai fit perfectly into. It oozed a little and he dropped the kunai next to it. For some reason, he didn’t want to keep the weapon. It seemed wrong to keep it. As he studied the bodies a bit more, he realized this couldn’t be Chikako. From what they had learned, she would have been much more powerful than whatever this thing was. Gaara was convinced that some of the stories simply couldn’t be true. A creature unseen in four hundred years was hard to write valid stories about, but Kankuro still felt like this had been too easy.

“Gaara…” his brother entered his mind and he knew while his brother was more powerful than himself, he was also still a man. It was scary how easy this seemingly lesser monster had been able to get her claws into him and he had no prior history with her. If Gaara was alone with Chikako, it was hard to believe he would stand chance against her. He hated himself now as he realized how stupid it had been to let his brother go alone to the waterfall.

Rushing fast to gather up his clothing and clean the webbing off Karasu, he dressed and took off out of the house. He was prepared for the rain of tiny spiders this time, but they didn’t come. Possibly because of the monster he had killed. Whatever the reason, he was thankful for it as he ran into the forest and headed for the waterfall.

Finding Gaara was the only thing important right now.


	19. Chapter 19

Gaara remembered the day his sister told him about her engagement to the Leaf Shinobi. The relationship with the other ninja had changed his sister greatly. She was more warm hearted and fluttery about it at first. Granted, these days, she was back to her old self, but it was something about the newness of the relationship that changed her. She had come to him to talk about the location for the wedding. Apparently there was a dispute on whether is should be on Suna or Konoha soil. As the daughter of a Kazekage, the council wanted her to marry in Suna. But the Nara clan wanted it on their land in Konoha. Gaara found the whole thing exhausting. 

She had commented about how awkward he was about the whole thing. That she worried about him in that aspect. It was that conversation that had lead the council to requesting that either he or Kankuro find a wife and start a family. After some time, he realized that she had meant that he was awkward about being around women. It wasn’t completely untrue. He realized what it was now. She had been worried that he couldn’t be physically intimate with a woman. 

The closest he had come before now was the one heated kiss he had shared with Chikako on her bed. She had been in control enough to stop the kissing and hide herself away before he had to attempt anything further. Knowing about sex and actually going through with it were two very different things, he realized.

Right now, none of that awkwardness seemed to matter. She was warm and her body contoured to his perfectly. He didn’t worry about what his hands were supposed to do or how to move his lips. It just seemed to happen naturally. Things had always been easy with Chikako. Maybe it didn’t appear that way to people who saw them, but it was. This was easy with her now too.

His fingers dragged along her bare hip and she sighed softly as his lips moved to her throat. She smelled earthy and her body was on fire. Gaara barely had enough time to unbutton his shirt as he sat up before she dug her fingers into his hair and pulled him back down into another heated kiss. The warm skin of her chest pressed against his own and he groaned lowly. Feeling her legs press up around his hips, he felt ready for this. Making love to Chikako felt right to do.

They didn’t make it that far though. How long they just kissed and touched, cooing each others names as they did so, Gaara had no idea how long it went on. He just knew that his lips felt tender and he was sure he had touched every inch of her body as much as she had touched his. At some point, they managed to get his shirt off completely and his pants and shoes as well. He was on his back in the damp grass and she was laying against him, kissing at his neck and chest softly.

“Gaara!” their slow, very slow, road to love making was interrupted by his brother’s voice. Chikako sat up fast to look around and he did likewise, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close as Kankuro came stumbling out of the tree line. His brother’s eyes fixed on the naked woman he was holding, “Get away from her, Gaara!”

The sand in his gourd nearby reacted as Kankuro released Karasu and it came flying towards Chikako. It’s mouth opened and Gaara saw the flash of the poison dipped spike in it’s maw. The sand shot up between them and the puppet, blocking the spike. Chikako gasped and clung to him desperately, “Kankuro! Stop!” he snapped.

“No, Gaara! She’s a monster! Get away from her! They’re all monsters!” before he could say or do anything more, Chikako darted from his lap and ran for the lake. She dove in before Karasu could get to her. 

“What do you think you’re doing?!” he snapped again as he climbed to his feet. While being nearly naked in front of his brother wasn’t something he enjoyed doing, he was thankful that he hadn’t removed his boxers, “Chikako! Come back!” he shouted, but he could see the large shadow under the water moving towards the waterfall.

“What the...Is that…?” he watched as Kankuro’s eyes caught the shadow too, “I was right! She is a monster! We have to get out of here, Gaara. It isn’t safe.”

“You’re wrong, Kankuro. She wasn’t going to hurt me.”

“Oh really now? And did you discuss that before you shoved your tongue down her throat?” it wasn’t as if he didn’t understand his brother’s concerns, but he just couldn’t find it in him to care about it. He trusted his own instinct about this.

Gaara shook his head as he started walking around the lake to get closer to the waterfall. He saw the large shadow crawling it’s way up and disappearing into what must have been a cave behind the rushing water, “She could have killed me by now if that’s what she wanted to do. Chikako! Chikako! Please come back out! If you won’t come out, I’m coming up there!”

He ignored the sound of his brother shouting as he started up the slippery rocks. The sand shot up from the ground, blocking Kankuro and Karasu anytime they got too close. He shivered as the cold water rushed over his bare body. While he was trained to handle any situation, the shock of the cold water always got to him at first. It took a lot of focus to keep his fingers from sliding off the smoothed and wet stones he was trying to use. Soon, Kankuro’s voice was completely lost in the sound of the water.

As he got closer to the cave opening, he noticed large notches in the rock wall and realized they were the foot holes she used. They were wide and spread far apart. A sign of how large her true form was. Gaara managed to use a few of them to work his way up till he dragged himself inside of the cave. He sprawled out on his back, taking a few deep breaths before climbing back to his feet.

The cave was damp and the water outside echoed through it. It took several moments for his eyes to adjust to the lack of light, “Chikako? Chikako, please come out. Talk to me,” they had never been big on deep conversations, but he knew that it was something they should do. In fact, he was sure they should have done that before the kissing had started.

“Go away,” her voice echoed from deep in the cave, “I don’t want you to see me like this,” she sounded sad. It pulled at his heart. Reaching out, he touched the nearest wall to help guide him. It was wet and sticky. Pulling his hand back, he saw the white film on his fingers. It was old webbing, stuck to the rocks with years of build up and spray from the waterfall.

Slowly, he made his way along the side of the cave, “I’m not leaving without speaking to you. You wanted me to come here. So here I am.”

“It was a mistake. I wasn’t thinking straight. You need to leave. You and Kankuro both. You’re in danger being here.”

He shook his head a little and his walking paused as he heard a bit of movement ahead of him, “You won’t hurt me. I know you won’t. I know you won’t hurt Kankuro either. Because you know that would upset me. I’m right, aren’t I?” her lack of a response was enough for him to know it was true. 

Eyes having adjusted to the darkness, he didn’t need to hold onto the wall anymore. He could make out the shapes of her living space. It was really nothing more than a dirty, wet cave. It made him sad to think she had been living here for the past eight years. It wasn’t as if she were used to a lavish lifestyle, but there didn’t seem to be anything here. Just rocks and wet webbing. There were no bones up here and he wondered if she really was the cause of the outside. Tusara had mentioned that the people of the village might see her as some kind of goddess. Perhaps those were just the bodies of tributed sacrifices.

“Please let me see you. Talk to you.”

There was more movement and he saw her. At first, she looked the same as she had outside. Her naked form in front of him, barely visible in the little light that there was. She looked scared. While she had changed physically over the years, he could still see the nervous and awkward girl he had once shared a living space with, “I missed you so much, Gaara. I didn’t think...I didn’t think you would come. I think about you everyday.”

“I think about you alot too,” it was hard not to. She reminded him of her existence every six months. Even without that, she just came into his mind anytime he saw a spider somewhere. His Kazekage duties kept his mind busy most of the time. He doubted she entered his mind as much as he was in hers. 

The sight he got now was one he knew he would never forget. She stepped closer to him and he felt his eyes go wide.

From the waist up, she looked mostly the same. The exception was her arms. from the elbow down, they were mutated. Black and her fingers were more like long claws. Rather than five fingers, it was three long claws. All of them were shined and sharp looking. That wasn’t as surprising as what was below her waist. Slowly, she rose up, towering over him. For a moment, he felt his usual confidence in stressful situations falter and he stepped back. 

Most spiders had two main body segments. Her torso seemed to make up the first one. It could stand erect from the abdomen of her body segments. From the waist down was that of a Joro Spider. It was long and thin, not bulbus like some spider species. He was sure if the lighting were better, he would see the usual ruby red spot on her abdomen that the Joro species had and on the back would be the yellow coloring of the species. Her arms seemed to be the first two of her ‘legs’, leaving the remaining six on her abdomen. They were long and kinked the way he had seen on the spider that visited him. He was sure, stretched out, she could fill the entirety of the Suna council meeting room. Her head would likely hit the ceiling.

“Chikako…” he took a deep breath before stepping forward again. She lowered herself, bringing her torso back down to the height he was used to seeing her at. The bulk of her body filled the cave behind her. The lake might have been deep enough to hold her, but this cave was too small. she forced herself into the discomfort of living in it. That told him more than anything else that she was still the same woman he remembered. She didn’t want to be this thing. 

“Gaara, please leave. It’s not safe. I’m sorry I brought you here. I wasn’t thinking clearly. You need to leave.”

The red headed man shook his head and reached out for her, taking her clawed hand in his own. She was shivering with fear. He could feel it and hear it in her voice, “I’m not leaving without you.”

“Gaara, no. I can’t. This is where I belong. I’m a monster.”

“No you’re not. Kankuro attacked you and you ran away. You didn’t try to fight him. If you were a monster, you would have attacked back,” he knew well that feeling. As far as he was concerned, he had been more of a monster than she was now. There was a time when if someone dared attack him, he didn’t hesitate to take their lives.

Gaara knew pulling her to him and holding her close would be impossible. Instead, he moved forward and wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on top of her head. She sighed contently and he felt her arms come up under his, “Everyday...I feel myself slipping away more and more...I don’t know how I’ve held on this long...I’m going to be like them soon…”

It took him a moment, but confusion washed over his face, “Them?”

It was amazing that Kankuro’s shout managed to reach them, but it did, “Gaara!”

Chikako pulled from him a bit, “Where was Kankuro before now?”

“He…” his eyes drifted towards the entrance of the cave, “He went to the village first.”

“Oh no...no, no, no…”

He was pushed back hard against the cave wall as she moved past him, the bulk of her abdomen rubbing against him as she moved to the cave entrance. Her legs were prickly and scratched him a little. He watched her drop out the entrance and down into the lake before he rushed over only to stumble back as a large Joro Spider dropped down in front of him. It wasn’t nearly as large as Chikako was and it didn’t have any human parts to it. It was simply a massive spider.

At first, he was hesitant to attack it. What if it was something special to Chikako? But then it dropped into the cave and hissed at him. It reared up and lashed out at him. His sand had little difficulty in getting to him and came between him and the beast. It screeched as the sand wrapped around it and crushed it easily. Gaara ran for the cave entrance and jumped out, breaking through the waterfall and heading fast towards the lake. He didn’t hit the water. His sand caught him and safely carried him to the shore.

A short distance away, Kankuro was surrounded by a mixture of giant spiders and what appeared to be naked girls. Not far from his brother was Karasu. The puppet was dealing with a small herd of spiders and women as well. Climbing from the water was Chikako, in human form this time. She wasn’t nude anymore. Instead, she was draped in a dress made of grey and white webbing. While her massive body had disappeared, her arms were still clawed. On the train of her dress was a mass of withering spiders. The small spiders fanned out from her dress and started towards the women and large spiders. Gaara was surprised to see small fires breaking out wherever the little spiders went. They scared off the larger spiders and the women went running for the trees with the spiders. There were a few dead ones, both women and spiders, laying around his brother and Karasu. It wasn’t lost on him that it was an equal number of both.

Gaara made his way over to his brother to make sure the other man was alright before turning to look at Chikako. She looked so different now. She looked strong. Her eyes were sharp and cold. She stood tall and confident. It was a side of her he never thought he would ever see. It was alluring, “Chikako?”

“You both need to leave. I’m sorry I made you come here. It was a mistake,” she repeated, but he didn’t regret coming, “Seeing you, Gaara, I think it will help me stay in the right of mind for a little longer. Thank you, but don’t come back.”

Gaara didn’t get a chance to speak again. Kankuro lashed out this time, “Did you do that to those women?!”

She shook her head and he saw her confidence fall, “No. They were like that when I got here. They were waiting for me...Mother said she had wanted me to come here, but she didn’t tell me the truth about why. This is where the Jorogumo comes from. Those women, those demons, they are the ones like my sister. Mother lied to us both so much. I’m still learning what’s true and what’s not. You need to leave before they come back. They won’t want to kill you right away. They will want to mate and force me to mate with you. Then eat you.”

“Come on, Gaara, let’s get out of here,” Kankuro wasn’t one to shy away from a fight, but he obviously didn’t feel like fighting off an island of hungry spider demons.

He moved to start putting his clothing back on, pulling his shirt free from under the body of a large spider, “I’m not leaving without you, Chikako.”

“Gaara, no…” she started.

Kankuro finished, “She can’t come with us.”

“You can come with. I’ll take care of you,” it felt good to say that. He took care of Suna and that gave him a sense of fulfillment, but he still found himself wanting more, “You said it yourself, seeing me will help you. If I’m with you, you won’t be a danger to anyone,” he walked over and wrapped his arms around her waist, “I’m not leaving if you don’t come with.”

“...Gaara...they won’t let me go…”

“Then I’ll kill them.”

“Gaara!” he knew that tone in his brother’s voice. It had been quite some time since Gaara had said something so callous and cold, “You can’t…”

He narrowed his eyes back at his sibling, “I can. They aren’t human.”

Chikako pulled back from him, a stern look on her face, “Neither am I.”

“That’s...that’s not what I meant. I just…” he realized his mistake and felt that there was no recovery from it, “I want you to come back to Suna with me. You deserve better than this place, Chikako. You’re not happy here.”

“No. I’m not.”

“And what are you going to do if she loses control?!” his brother snapped. 

It was a valid question. He hated that it was, but it was, “It would be no different than when Shukaku used to get free. Remember, Brother, I was a monster too. Suna survived me. We’ll work things out. I promise,” the promise was to her, not to his brother. Leaning down, he kissed her softly and she whimpered a little.

“I can’t...I can’t believe I’m agree to this,” his brother complained softly.

“I don’t know...I don’t want to hurt anyone…” there were tears caught in her voice. 

“I won’t let you hurt anyone. I swear.”

“Gaara, promise me, if it has to be done, you’ll kill me.”

That hit him hard. How was he supposed to respond to something like that? Looking down at her obsidian colored eyes, he knew what he had to say, even if he couldn’t keep the promise, “I promise.”

The smile that crossed her lips made the false promise worth it, “We have to hurry. They have ears everywhere. They won’t let me go easy.”


	20. Chapter 20

Chikako had not planned on coming to the island. It was the place her mother had wanted her to go to, so it felt like the worst idea. For two years, she just wandered around. Avoiding the war and staying as far away from people as she possibly could. It was hard at first. She was hungry all the time and mostly sleeping on the ground under trees or in small caves. She had no skills for practical hunting. Mother had only wanted her to use her charm and seduction skills to get the things she wanted. 

When she turned seventeen, the urge had been too powerful to resist at first. She holed up in a small town and took advantage of the war situation to convince people to give her what she wanted. It was easy at first, but the first time she found herself lying in a bed with a man, she felt sick. He was kissing her neck and touching her. It made her hate herself. All she could think about was Gaara. She killed the man by accident. She still couldn’t remember how it happened. She just knew that she came out of her haze and he was dead on the floor next to the bed.

Five years ago she had made her way back to Suna in the hopes of begging Gaara for forgiveness. The war was over and she missed him dearly. No part of her believed that he would take her back, but she just wanted to see him. Part of her hoped that he would kill her. That he would see the monster that she was and would end it. Getting into Suna was easy enough. Very little was difficult for her anymore by that point. 

She had seen Gaara standing on the roof of the Kazekage building. It made her smile to know that he still liked looking at the stars. Something about him seemed different, but she couldn’t place it. What got to her was seeing the woman walking up next to him and sliding her arm around one of his. Chikako knew it was logical that he move on. He deserved to find someone to be happy with.

But logic was not easy to stick with. It made her sad and angry. It was easy to think that he would be alone and miserable without her forever, like she was without him. But there he was with another woman. It just made her so angry. She left Suna that night, but not without leaving her mark on the city.

That’s when she decided to come to the island. It seemed a better choice than anything else. She sought out her sister and the girl helped her get a boat to the small location. People seemed hesitant to go there and it wasn’t till she was there that she realized why. The boat dropped her off on the shore and left immediately.

Chikako didn’t have to wander around lost. It was a small island, so she wouldn’t have been lost long, but _they_ seemed to sense her coming and were waiting. They were upset that the boat left, leaving them without the crew for a fresh meal. They got over their displeasure quickly as they ushered her through the village. All of them were eager to show her what they had built. Chikako was shocked to find out that they knew who and what she was. They said that her mother had sent word years ago that she would be coming. They were sad that it had taken this long for her to come to them. 

It was even more shocking to find out that they were all Jorogumo like her sister. They said that she should have brought Tusara with her to add to the village. Said that her sister would be able to get stronger if she had come. Chikako learned alot from these creatures. They could take on the form of a woman, but their spider form was always nearby. Though their human form was more of a mockery of a female human. They all looked the same and they all couldn’t seem to feign everyday expressions. They only knew how to seduce and devour. If one form died, the other died with it.

Eventually, the lead her to the waterfall where they said they would worship and pay tribute to her. She tried very hard to get them to understand that she wasn’t what they thought she was. She wasn’t some kind of leader for them or goddess. She didn’t want their tribute or praise. All Chikako wanted was a quiet place to live and be left alone. They wouldn’t have it though. Whenever someone happened upon the village they would have their turns with the men for breeding, devour the women, and then bring the men to her to mate and eat. 

It didn’t take long for them to realize she was not doing that. Instead, she was letting the barely alive go free, but since they had no way off the island, the village women eventually got them again. Chikako attempted to feed on local wildlife, but they caught on to that and they took it upon themselves to kill everything off. Leaving her with nothing to hunt. They thought that would encourage her to be what they expected her to be. When they found out she was fishing, they started blocking off the river access to the ocean and killing off any water species they could.

When there were long periods of lack of food, they took to eating each other. The weakest were sacrificed for the longevity of the colony. Chikako hadn’t ate properly in over a year. She was living on the few tiny fish that got through the traps and plant life. It was hardly satisfying or filling. In a hungry haze, she vaguely remembered sending off her most trusted spider to Gaara. When the spider didn’t return, she wasn’t sure what to think. She knew it was ready to start laying eggs and she wondered if it hadn’t made it to Suna at all.

She sat, lonely and miserable, in her cave. Her body weak with hunger. Her mind telling her to just give in and be what she was supposed to. Chikako knew she wasn’t a human. It was wrong to keep pretending she could be one. It would be easy to just give in and lose herself completely. It was getting harder and harder to remember anything about herself. There were days when all she wanted was to eat and breed. To mate and start the next generation. It was only natural.

Then Gaara’s voice broke through the waterfall and she felt her head clear up. Seeing him was even a stronger feeling than just hearing his voice. When they began kissing, all she wanted was to have him forever. Chikako was content to lay in the grass and be with him like that all day and night. There was no urge to make love, though she couldn’t see herself resisting if he wanted to. It was just a pleasant feeling to have him so close and feeling the pressure of his body against her own.

When Kankuro interrupted their passionate tryst, she felt the urge to feed. To attack him and feed on him. To get rid of anyone that stood between herself and Gaara at the moment. But the puppet came flying at her and she panicked. Running back to the safety of her cave. She realized how awful her thoughts were. Keeping Gaara for herself and killing his brother. She knew if she even attempted to devour Kankuro, Gaara would be forced to kill her and she would lose herself. Running was the best option.

At the moment, they were walking through the forest and down to the shore when they said they had left their boat. Gaara’s arm was protectively around her waist, not that she needed the protection. Kankuro was several paces ahead of them. The puppetmaster did not seem pleased with her coming with them. It hadn’t been Chikako’s intention to come with. She had just wanted to see Gaara, even if she did regret sending for him. The truth was that she was scared that being back in a populated area would be too tempting and dangerous for her. She didn’t know how this was going to work out. 

It had been some time since she traveled this far from her cave. She hesitated in the treeline, her toes digging into the sandy dirt. Gaara’s grip tightened around her and she felt reassured. 

She also realized that this had been far too easy. She could feel the eyes on them as they had walked. She was sure the men could feel them too. They were being hunted. Chikako could feel the anger. The village felt like they were being abandoned by her. Betrayed and abandoned. Their silence was more terrifying than their small attack before.

Not that it lasted. As they came up on the boat, Kankuro broke out into a run, “No!” he shouted and she gasped a little as she saw the giant spiders all over the boat. They were trying to dismantle it. Chikako knew not to send out spiders this time. Fire would be bad for the boat. Gaara’s sand went to work and Kankuro’s puppet did the same. 

She stood back while they started to take down the large spiders and the few women that were trying to destroy the boat. It was surprisingly sad to watch them die. She knew they were only doing what was in their nature to do. It was like killing a dog for chasing a stick or a cat for eating a mouse. This was all they knew. It wasn’t their fault that they didn’t know any better. Chikako had attempted conversations with them in the past, but they were hyper focused on nothing more than mating and eating. 

Chikako turned and looked into the forest, “Please. Please just let me go. I’m not one of you. You know I’m not. I’m not what you need and you don’t need me. Let me go,” she pleaded, but she didn’t feel a change in the mood. If anything, it seemed to anger them more.

“Ah!” she snapped around and saw Kankuro fall to his knees. One of the spiders had lunged and managed to get him down. Gaara was too busy fending for himself. His hand was dealing with as many of the spiders as it could. He couldn’t risk overusing his sand and risking damaging the boat or injuring his brother.

“No! Leave them alone! I’m not like you!”

The fire blazed hot and fast. It flared out along the lines of silk threads that came from her clawed hands. Over the years, she had managed to figure out all the various ways she could produce her silk, “I said, leave them alone!” she screamed as the webbing wrapped it’s way around each of the spiders and women. They screeched in pain. Some attempted to retreat, but Chikako didn’t let up. The webbing seared it’s way through their bodies, leaving them in pieces in the sand and the smell of charred flesh in the air. The ones still in the forest kept their distance this time. 

Both Gaara and Kankuro were staring at her as the fire died down and she collapsed into the sand breathing heavy. Gaara rushed over to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, “I...I’m sorry…” she whimpered.

“It’s alright. It’s alright,” he said softly, “Kankuro, is the boat good to use?”

She didn’t even look up. She just buried herself against his chest, “It should be. Nothing we can’t deal with. Let’s go.”

Gaara helped her to her feet and she just kept up against him as he lead her to the boat. She huddled up at the back of the small boat, “I’m going to take care of you. I promise,” he whispered and kissed her forehead before going to help Kankuro get the boat off the shore.

As strange as it had felt coming here, there was something almost sad about leaving. This was the one place where, while she knew she didn’t fit the idea of what the village demons had wanted, but it was the place she had belonged. Chikako had never belonged in Suna, but it’s where she wanted to be. With Gaara. With him, she felt like she could control herself. They would find a way to make it work and keep her from hurting anyone.

Gaara was all she needed right now.


	21. Chapter 21

The rushed pace of the wedding did not please the Suna council, but Gaara didn’t care. When they returned, Gaara announced that the wedding would be on the night of the new moon, which was only two weeks away. It had taken almost six months to sort out everything for Temari’s wedding. The disputes of where it would take place, where the couple would live, how to handle her part of the former Kazekage’s estate, the guest list, finding a date where those who had to be there could be there...even at six months felt like it had been rushed. To try to prepare the wedding for the Kazekage himself in two weeks seemed like an impossible task.

When they returned, Gaara and Chikako spent more than a day with the council defending their want and need for the wedding. Some of them remembered her, but that didn’t mean they approved of her. They knew that Baki had held her under suspicion of being in league with the ones who kidnapped Gaara years ago and had managed to escape holding. They claimed that she had been scared of not having her name cleared and ran away, but not that she had been guilty of it.

Those who did not remember her were just as resistant. They wanted to know what made her worthy of marriage to a Kazekage. Her family did not own land, she had nothing to offer, she didn’t even have anything in the way of money. It didn’t help that the story they had come with for how they remet was shaky at best. During his and Kankuro’s trip, they had come across her living as a waitress. They were concerned that Chikako was using Gaara’s old feelings for her to get money, but in the end, it was still Gaara’s decision on who he married.

He made it very clear that this wedding was going to happen, whether they liked it or not. They had tried to push him into marriage years before and they should be happy that he had finally found someone. Though he knew they real reason they had pushed it so hard on him before. It wasn’t for his own happiness. It was so he could have a child and keep Suna in the hands of someone who was born there and not risk it falling into the Nara Clan in the Leaf Village. Gaara neglected to tell them that Chikako and himself had no plans on producing a blood heir. They would deal with that situation in time.

Gaara made it clear that this was not a political event. Invitations would be sent out to everyone, but if someone couldn’t make it, then no special treatment would be made to change the date or time. Those that could come, would come and those who could not, would not. The only one he was concerned about was Naruto. He wanted the blond man at the ceremony. Not because he had attended the new Hokage’s wedding several years earlier, but because they were friends. Naruto was the one person he was willing to move the date of the wedding for. 

Luckily, that wasn’t necessary. The enthusiastic reply he received from the other former Jinchūriki made him happy. Naruto promised to be there with both his wife and children. He was looking forward to sharing an important moment in his life with someone who had been such an important factor in his current life. If it wasn’t for meeting Naruto, it was hard to say if he would even be alive now.

In fact, he knew he wouldn’t be. If Shukaku hadn’t eventually killed him or moved him to kill himself, without Naruto, he would not have survived having the One-Tail removed from his body by the Akatsuki. A part of the other man would forever be a part of himself. Without it, he would not be drawing breath right now.

“This would be easier if you used a mirror,” the blond Hokage said with a smile as he helped Gaara make sure his Kazekage robes were straight, “Hinata said she couldn’t find one in our room either.”

After the announcement of their wedding, Gaara went about ordering changes to the Kazekage building. All the mirrors were removed and any reflective surfaces were replaced with non-reflective objects. While the council adamantly protested the removal of the newer security cameras, Gaara ensured they were all taken down. He stated that it was better to have trained Shinobi doing rounds. It created more jobs, which was more important than having one shinobi watching a room of monitors. The last big change he made was the moving of his room. He’d been in that room most of his life, but he had two other rooms combined to create his new living space with Chikako.

The new room was on the base floor and had a main room with his cacti and her spider habitats, as well as a sitting area. Through a door in the back, it lead to their bedroom. This allowed them extra privacy. People would have to go through the main room to get to their room and it couldn’t be seen from the hallway. 

Their bedroom wasn’t much different from how it had been the last time they lived together. Two beds, a small table beside each bed, and a small closet for their clothing. Neither of them were big on having ‘things’. They were simple people. The biggest change from their old room was the bathroom. It was much larger than any other in the building. It was more like an indoor, enclosed hot spring. It had taken the builders nearly the full two weeks to finish it. Gaara meant for it as a place where Chikako could stretch her legs out and swim if she felt the need to.

Right now, with the person he considered to be his closest friend, he was tempted to tell Naruto the truth. To let him know what Chikako really was. He was sure Naruto would be understanding. Something in him told him not to though. He knew he should discuss it with her first before telling anyone. It wasn’t his place to tell people. 

“Chikako seems nice,” there had been a small dinner the night before so the other Kage’s could meet her. She had been nervous about it and almost called the whole thing off, but it had gone over well. She was quiet most of the time, “I’m surprised you never mentioned her before.”

“It was a sore subject. I didn’t want to bring it up. All that matters is that we’re together now.”

“I’m happy for you, Gaara. Settling down and starting a family of your own,” the Hokage smiled and pat him on the shoulder, “Kids are a handful, just so you know.”

“Oh, uh…” he felt his face getting a little warm, “We won’t be having children.”

“Oh? Not always something you can control. You know that, right?”

Naruto was right. If they were intimate, there was always a chance of offspring. However, they had already planned that out. As content as he had been as a teenager to never know her that way, he was content to continue that. They would never consummate their marriage. Not that anyone else would ever know that. Instead, they decided on what to tell people, “Chikako is infertile. She found out when she was younger.”

The other man was silent for a moment, “Sorry I brought it up. I shouldn’t have assumed…”

“It’s alright. It’s what most would be doing, but it’s not something that bothers us. We have been discussing adoption, but not right away. Just something to consider for the future,” well, they had talked about it once. Gaara knew they had more things to worry about and take care of before they could consider expanding their family in any way.

“Adoption is good. A lot of children out there need families,” even though the war had been over for several years, it had still left it’s mark on the world. Many were left with broken families or without any family, “You nervous?”

It would be a lie if he said he wasn’t. It wasn’t getting married he was nervous about though. They had taken great care in the planning and timing of the wedding. It was rushed, but the detail was still there. They had spent more than one night testing out the lighting they would be using outside for the ceremony to make sure it didn’t cast a shadow, mostly her shadow. No sun or moon out allowed them to control the lighting. They had been worried about photographs and almost forbid people from bringing cameras, but after a few tests, they realized that the cameras could capture her in her human form. It would be nice to have a picture of their wedding. All he was nervous about was something going wrong, but not about getting married itself, “A little.”

Brushing out his robe a little, he took a deep breath. Gaara had the choice to wear something else, but he didn’t mind his Kazekage robe. It seemed appropriate. Before he could say anything more to his friend, there was a small knock on the door before his sister came in, “Gaara, your bride won’t come out of the room. She says she needs to see you or she won’t come out,” he felt his stomach tighten and feared the worst. What if she was in a less than human form and unable to change back? Could it be possible that she was nervous and it would affect her that way? While Kankuro knew the truth, they had all decided not to tell Temari given her dislike for spiders, “I told her that it’s bad luck for you to see her, but she won’t come out.”

“Want help?” Naruto asked.

“No. I can handle it,” he took a deep breath again before following his sister through the building to his bedroom. Chikako wasn’t in the main room and seemed to have locked herself in the bedroom. It would be nothing for anyone here to get past the lock, but most likely assumed it was just cold feet and nothing serious. Gently, he knocked on the door, “Chikako? Are you alright?”

The door cracked open, but no light came out. She had turned off all the lights. There was a small burnt smell to the room and he hoped she hadn’t set any fires. Those small spiders of hers were fire hazards. They were none the happy about being confined to a limited location when they had been born and raised with access to an island. While they were mostly under her control, they did seem to have thought of their own and were not shy about showing their displeasure, “Chikako?” he went in and closed the door behind him. Well aware that she had not actually opened the door. There were times when her powers, whatever their limit might be, were actually a little terrifying.

He stopped as he saw a glint from her dark eyes in the tiny bit of light coming from the doorway to the bathroom. She was sitting on the edge of her bed and as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he noticed she was still undressed. Much of her time in the privacy of their room was spent undressed. He was getting used to seeing her that way and even understood it. The confines of clothing, even in her human form, was uncomfortable for her. It actually helped easy some of his awkwardness to see her that way so often.

“I’m scared. What if someone notices?”

Moving closer to her, he settled on the bed with her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, “No one will notice anything. I promise.”

“What if I can’t control being around so many people? It’s been a long time since I’ve been around a lot of people at once. Last night was hard and there’s more people today,” Gaara hadn’t really expected so many people to show up, but it seemed they were willing to rearrange their schedules to be here. All the Kages, all the previous Kages, all of their families and attendance, and everyone they fought alongside with in that last battle. It was much more than either of them had expected to turn up on such short notice. Gaara realized more people cared about him than he had previously noticed.

He knew what she needed. They had slowly been working out a routine for when she started to feel out of control, “You did good last night. Everyone liked you,” or at least didn’t seem concerned by her, “Come here…” he said softly as he pulled away from her and started removing his robe. She climbed to her feet and waited as he pulled off the Kage outfit and laid it out on the bed gently to prevent wrinkles, “We don’t have a lot of time.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. Today is our day and people will just have to deal with us,” he smiled a little as he stood bare in front of her for a moment before sitting on the floor. She climbed into his lap, her legs wrapping around his waist and her head laying on his shoulder. Gaara wrapped his arms under hers and around her back tightly as she wrapped hers around him. Their bodies pressed together hard and he let the unnatural warmth of her body wash over him. He felt her six other legs spread out around them and clasp around his body. 

Gaara was learning the extent of how she could manipulate her appearance. She admitted that there was a form where she had no human appearance what so ever, but she never wanted to show him that. Since being back in Suna, she hadn’t even gone back to the form he had seen in the cave, though he told her that she could in the bathroom he had built for her. The most she did lately was her arms turning into their clawed forms and her six other legs sprouting from her back when she was like this. The sand from his gourd crept out and cocooned around them. Trapping them in complete darkness and warmth. They did this every night for at least an hour.

They stayed this way till the sound of the knocking outside of the cocoon on the bedroom door was loud enough for them to hear clearly. He felt her legs retreating and the sand moved it’s way back into the gourd as they slowly stood up and stretched a little. They were both sweaty now, but she seemed less on edge and that was all that mattered to him, “We’ll be out in a minute!” he called out as he started pulling his robes back on and she picked up the wedding robe that was draped over the other bed. The light in the room flicked on and he looked over to see one of her Joro spiders hanging from the ceiling in front of the switch.

The Kimono was similar to the one he had Baki get for her as a gift. He had watched her make it. It was beautiful to watch her spin her webs. Chikako had been embarrassed to let him watch at first, but he did find it lovely and even relaxing to see happen. It wasn’t a traditional wedding robe, but nothing about them was traditional. The red, black, and yellow colors looked wonderful on her and he couldn’t imagine her in anything like what Naruto’s wife had worn on her wedding day. The whole thing was embroidered with the faintest of silvery silk thread that took the shape of a spider web. The fact that she had made it in less than two weeks was incredible.

“You look beautiful,” he said softly. She wasn’t putting her hair up in any special way and she wasn’t painting herself with makeup. Gaara had never found those things alluring. She didn’t need them. Even before her coming into her powers, he hadn’t felt she needed those things. She had always been exactly as he felt she should be.

Her cheeks turned pink as she looked down at her feet, “I’m told it’s bad luck to see me before the wedding. I’m sorry I panicked and made you come here.”

“I’m not. I think I needed to see you too,” he reached up and touched her cheek softly till she tilted her head up. Gaara leaned down and pressed their lips together for a moment.

“Are you two doing what I think you’re doing in there?!” Temari called out and broke them from their trance again, “You know, you’re supposed to wait till after the wedding!”

“Temari! Quit that!” it was her husband. Not that he had any way of controlling the sand woman’s mouth. Temari was going to say what she wanted to say when it concerned her family and Shikamaru was expected to just deal with it.

“We’re coming,” he said loudly as Chikako wrapped an arm around his and he started leading her out. 

“Look at you two! You were!” Temari snapped as they stepped out, “I can’t deal with this,” she shook her head before storming off.

Naruto smirked and covered his mouth a little to hide the laugh he was trying to supress. The Hokage walked over and pat his shoulder before whispering, “And I thought I was supposed to be the next Pervy Sage,” he teased.

Gaara felt her arm tighten around his and he felt his face warm up, “It’s not like that,” he said softly. He wished he could tell his friend the truth.

“Suuurree….” Naruto smiled again, “Let’s go get you two married!”


	22. Chapter 22

It had been nearly twelve years since the war ended and four since they were married. Life had been calm, for the most part. Day to day life was fairly routine. There was always paperwork to be filled out and always reports to hear. There was also listening to the council, the landlords, and the people of Suna air their grievances. It wasn’t dull work, but it was hardly eventful. While his favorite times were when he could be alone with his wife, he also took joy in overseeing the new students at the Suna Academy.

His former student, Matsuri, assisted alongside him and Kankuro in training the new students. The Academy had greatly changed over the years. There was a time when those who could not use ninjutsu or genjutsu were forbidden from becoming Suna shinobi. After his time and friendship with Rock Lee, he had that rule abolished. Many of their newer teaching styles were based heavily on Konoha’s teaching styles. They even allowed the Konoha Academy teachers to come and view their training session and trade recommendations between the schools. 

Gaara also worked to lower the tuition cost. His reasoning was that these children were growing up to become shinobi for their village. They shouldn’t have to be kept from doing that simply because of cost. Especially with the number of children left orphaned by the war. Many of them would have had their talents lost or unused if they could not afford tuition. Between himself and Naruto, they even set up funding for these types of children.

While his work with the students and Suna in general were going well, his marriage was doing just as well. There were hard times. Chikako had difficulties often. It was hard for her to keep her urges under control. She wanted to mate and to feed. Despite her smaller size, she ate enough for three or four people daily. Primarily meats. She took most of her meals in the privacy of their room, so people would not see just how much she actually ate. Often, he saw her eyes lingering on men like his own brother longer than they should have. He knew she wasn’t interested in being romantic with them. In fact, he was sure she didn’t even want to mate with them. Chikako wanted to drag them into her web and devour them.

To keep her occupied, Chikako had started finding ways to keep herself busy and find some sort of ‘purpose’ or career in life. The cacti and spider habitats had been moved into the more private part of their bedroom and the sitting room turned into a sewing room for her. She spent hours every day spinning silky threads and making various garments. Since she produced the silk herself, making the clothing was of no cost to her beyond needles to stitch with. She could make attractive items and sell them for fairly cheap. While the wife of the Kazekage really had no reason to work for funds, she could have anything she wanted, Gaara appreciated that she put the funds back into Suna’s well being. Her garments weren’t just lovely ones though. Her webbing was strong and light. It worked for shinobi wear as well.

They moved on from simply holding each other for an hour every night to sleeping in the same bed. It was not easy. Despite her eyes going to other men sometimes, he knew that she only wanted to mate with him. She told him so. They had managed to keep from being together that way, though they both wanted to.

There were two things Chikako was terrified of. One was that if she did happen to devour someone, she would not be able to resist doing it again and again and again. The second was the same, but with mating. She feared going through with it once would be enough to send her over the edge. Almost nightly, she would beg him to have his way with her and give her a child. They both knew that it could never happen. She would have a daughter and that daughter would be like her. Neither of them were willing to do that.

At night, in the privacy of their bedroom, she would coo into his ear and even try to force herself on him. More than once, he awoke in the middle of the night to find himself pinned to the bed and her attempting to push herself onto him. It pained him to not be able to give in physically. Gaara wanted it to happen. It was difficult spending night after night with her warm body pressed against his. It wasn’t as if they didn’t have their own ways of satisfying each other, but it was never fully satisfying. 

Physical exhaustion seemed to help in letting her sleep through the night and not try to push herself on him. She would spend hours before coming to bed in the spring like tub in their bathroom swimming. She had even taken to coming to the Academy and doing light training with the younger shinobi. Gaara realized, in seeing her with the students, that her endurance level was quite high. Both for energy and pain. He also noticed that she did not seem to have the same issues with children that she did with adults. She never looked at any of them like she wanted to eat them. He assumed that would change once they were old enough to be considered adults, but at least he never had to worry about her being the monster that carried off children to eat in a cave somewhere. Working with the students helped wear her out.

Over the past few months, he noticed her taking a liking to three of the students more than the others. It didn’t surprise him that they were three of the strongest not only in their group, but in the current Academy rankings all together.

The first was a girl named Yodo. The girl reminded him a lot of his sister. She was very confident in herself and not shy about showing her strengths. She spent much of her time with headphones on and listening to music when she could get away with it. The second was a boy named Araya. The boy was quick witted and well composed. He was turning out to be a rather gifted kenjutsu user. Chikako spoiled the two a bit. Indulging them in their hobbies when they should have been training. The only ones who would speak out against her were himself and Kankuro. If they weren’t there, the two were almost free to do as they pleased. Luckily, they were both dedicated to their training and didn’t seem to take advantage.

The last was an orphan who had taken part in the free tuition programs set up by himself and Naruto. His name was Shinki and he had been left at the local orphanage when he was barely a year old. They never located his family. It was likely a single mother or father unfit to care for a child and rather than let him live in neglect, they had given him up. Shinki didn’t seem to be upset by his situation in life. Rather, he was a very calm child and often took on the role of leader in various activities. The seriousness of his personality made him very adult like. He was always hyper focused and detail oriented.

Gaara noticed she took to Shinki the most. While the other two occasionally enjoyed the down time Chikako’s presence allowed them, Shinki never took part in it. This seemed to encourage his wife, rather than diminish her interest. She wanted to make him smile. He realized it was time to bring up an old conversation with his wife when he saw the boy sitting next to her on a ledge smiling as they both worked on one of her embroidery projects together. It was such a strange hobby for someone like Shinki to have, but he seemed to like the detail oriented factor in the silk work that Chikako did. 

Walking into their bedroom, he saw her clothing laying over the edge of their bed and the light coming from the bathroom. While his cacti took up space in the room, it had mostly become a habitat for her spiders. They had originally stayed in various tanks, but now they mostly roamed around freely. They stayed within the bedroom and the bathroom. They made their webs in the corners of both the rooms. He was sure most would not be able to handle it, but he had become used to their presence.

It always amazed him how his sand reacted when it came to her and the spiders. Even when she would pin him to the bed and he would have to wrestle free of her and hold her down till she calmed down, it never seemed to react to her as a threat. He wondered if that was because it knew that he didn’t want it to have to stop. Gaara wanted her to go through with them making love. It didn’t see her actions as a threat, because he didn’t see them as one. It did, occasionally, lash out at a spider or two that strayed too close to him if she wasn’t there. For the most part, they kept their distance from him and his gourd.

Heading to the bathroom, the steam poured out from the door as he opened it. She was resting on the edge of the pool of warm water. Her legs were submerged and her six other legs were relaxed behind her back as she brushed out her hair, “Starting or finishing?” he asked softly and she smiled.

“Starting.”

He nodded lightly as his fingers started working the buttons of his shirt open. People always commented at how young the two of them looked. He was sure her appearance was merely her powers keeping her close to his own appearance. Even at almost thirty years old, he still looked barely older than twenty. His jaw was a little sharper and his face a little thinner, but that was it for having aged. 

Stripping bare, he slipped into the water as she did. The heated water always felt nice after a long day. While he had never wanted for anything material growing up as the son of the Kazekage, Gaara had never been one for lavish things anyway. Chikako seemed to follow that as well. She seemed happy enough to just not be in a cave. But the heated, private pool was much appreciated by the both of them.

Her black, clawed arms wrapped around his neck as he swam up to meet her. Her other legs wrapped around him, pulling him close as he leaned in to kiss her softly. He felt her claws morphing back into fingers so she could sink them into his hair and stroke his scalp gently. His arms fit around her waist and between a pair of her legs. Her human legs wrapped around his hips as she leaned back against the wall of the pool, allowing him to fit between her thighs.

This was always difficult. He was aroused easily at the feel of her body against his and it was almost painful to not just thrust up against her and take her, “Oh, Gaara,” she purred. Her voice had always been a little deeper than most women. It was smooth and deep, but still feminine, “Take me...love me…” she always begged him. It was frustrating to not be able to give her what they both wanted. Gaara didn’t blame her for her begging and he never got angry about it. It was who she was. As much as she wanted to not be a demon, she was. She could appear and act as human as she wanted, but in the end, she wasn’t. She couldn’t help herself anymore than those women on the island could help themselves. She merely had slightly more control over herself.

“You have to calm down,” he whispered softly against her ear as she begged.

“I...I know…” but her voice betrayed her words. So did her body. She pressed up against him. Rubbing herself against him and holding him tightly, “T-talk more…” she needed distraction.

“I want you to come to the Summit with me and I want us to take Shinki with us.”

That seemed to do the trick. She pulled back from him and stared at him for a moment. Since coming back to Suna, they had never entertained the idea of her leaving it again for any reason. Much less bringing someone along if they did leave, “Why?”

“I want Shinki to head the team for the Chunin exams in three years. It would be good for him to start training more personally with Kankuro and myself,” it was incredible that the boy had a natural talent towards magnetic release and puppetry. Even without Chikako’s interest in him, it would have made sense for he and his brother to take the boy in as their personal student, “I also think it would be good for you to spend some more personal time with him. I would...I would like for us to take him in.”

Gaara felt her extra limbs retreating and she went quiet for several long moments, her eyes turned down a bit, “We haven’t really talked about that…”

“I know. The council is pushing for us to have a child or for Kankuro to get married and start a family,” his brother hadn’t been the same since they got back from the spider island. He was sure something had happened in the village that his brother wouldn’t talk about. Since then, he hadn’t been seen with a woman. He had finally told them the same thing he had told Naruto. That Chikako was infertile and there would be no blood child. While it was not ideal, the council said an adopted child would be able to carry on the Kazekage family name, “I won’t make you, but that’s why I want the trip. So you can spend more time with him and decide. Then we can bring it up to him if you decide you want to,” no sense in talking to the boy first and risking Chikako deciding she couldn’t handle it.

“...and you’re not worried about me traveling?”

“No,” he always tried to put his absolute faith in her control, “We’ll be walking most of the way,” which would help to keep her physically exhausted more than taking the train would, “And Kankuro knows we will need our privacy. It will just be the four of us and he can take care of Shinki while we rest,” though it was hardly rest what they did, “It will allow us time to test his abilities further and you time with him to get to know him more.”

Chikako smiled softly, “I do like Shinki. He’s very sweet.”

“I think he intimidates the other students.”

Leaning in, she kissed him lightly and nuzzled against him, “I think it sounds like a good idea.”

Gaara was glad she agreed and he hoped that she agreed with the adoption as well. Though he knew that Shinki had to agree to it as well, but he could think of no reason for the boy not to, “We’ll leave tomorrow night.”


	23. Chapter 23

Chikako hadn’t travelled this much by foot since she left Suna when Gaara had been kidnapped. It wasn’t that it was tiring or even a bother to walk. She was actually enjoying herself. It was nice having so much time with her husband. They had tried very hard to ensure that they shared a bed together every night, but his duties just didn’t allow for that. He spent as much time in Suna as he possibly could, but it was inevitable that he would have to spend time away. The first night he spent away, she locked herself up in their bedroom and refused to come out till he came home. She simply didn’t trust herself to go a whole day without having spent the night with him.

As the years went on, it was a little easier for her. Kankuro, despite his obvious discomfort around her, helped. He’d find things to help keep her busy. It was him who suggested she do something with all the webbing she kept putting up around the sitting room. The first kimono she made went to her sister-in-law as a gift. It went over well enough that she started making more items. And it was him who suggested she start finding more physically active things to occupy herself, which lead her to the Academy. 

It wasn’t lost on her that it was easier to manage with children than it was with adults. She didn’t see them as prey. It seemed to satisfy the need to breed as well when she was around them. While her kind wasn’t known for being the most motherly, they did take care of their own so long as there wasn’t a food shortage. She liked being around the young shinobi and mothering them. Even her own mother had managed a few moments of motherly kindness.

As with all of her kind, she tended to be attracted to the strongest of a group. Even without seeing him using his full strength, Chikako was drawn to Shinki. The young boy was almost always alone. He kept quiet and took his training very seriously. He didn’t take to slacking off when Kankuro and Gaara weren’t around like the others did. If anything, he worked harder when they weren’t there. 

It wasn’t as easy getting him to warm up to her the way his teammates had. He would sit with them on occasion, but he didn’t talk much and he avoided personal conversations. It wasn’t till she brought her embroidery work with her to the Academy one day that he seemed to perk up. He watched her work on it quietly till she asked if he wanted to try making one of the leaf patterns she had been stitching into the silk. He said he was worried he might damage the silk if he messed up and she told him then he should make sure that he didn’t mess up.

Most would have likely teased him for doing something so seemingly feminine, but they had to bite their tongues with the wife of the Kazekage around. They didn’t understand that embroidery work was harder than it looked. It was detailed and required focus. It fit in with his personality rather well.

When Gaara suggested they adopt him, she wasn’t sure how to feel. The biggest worry was that as he got older, she would not be able to help looking at him like she did Kankuro. Would she want to eat her adoptive son? He wasn’t a small child, so there wouldn’t be many years between him being her son and him becoming an adult. But would a baby really be any different? A girl would be worse, she felt. Chikako did tend to feel territorial around other women when they were home. 

Chikako had to remind herself that this wasn’t just about her. Gaara needed an heir and Shinki seemed like the best possible match. The long trip to Konoha was as much for him as it was for her. Shinki might not have been an infant or even a toddler, but if they went through with this, Gaara had to learn how to manage suddenly becoming a father.

The Summit was over a week away. They had left so early, so they could take their time getting there. Most of the time, they had camped out and spent the night on the ground, but tonight they had stopped in a small village just outside river country. Kankuro was in on the possibility of them adopting Shinki and had been spending time with the boy as well. Currently, the two of them were in a room of their own at the small inn working on Shinki’s puppet.

The inn owner had wanted to try to find them a better room, but Gaara and Chikako insisted that any room was fine for them. That’s how they ended up laying in a small bed together in a dusty room. She was laying on the bed, propped up on the wall with her husband laying again her. The back of his head rested on one of her shoulders and his eyes were closed as she hummed softly and stroked her fingers through his hair.

“How are you feeling?” his voice cut through her soft humming and she looked down at him, “Getting along with Shinki?”

She smiled, “It’s not me getting along with him that we should be worried about. He already likes me. How are you getting along with him?”

“It’s been difficult trying to speak with him about things other than training.”

“Well, if it makes you feel better, I don’t get the feeling that he wants a typical mother or father. He’s a very self sufficient boy. He doesn’t need anyone to coddle him. I think he would understand if we were blunt with him about it. You need someone to carry the family name and he will benefit from being the Kazekage’s son and student.”

“True.”

“Why don’t we go give Kankuro a break and have Shinki for dinner?” she felt him tense and smiled a little, “You know what I mean.”

“I do. I’m sorry. That sounds like a good idea.”

She watched as he climbed to his feet and started dressing. It was strange to not be able to lay together they way they usually did. Camping outside, with Kankuro and Shinki near by, they had to be more mindful. Chikako found it surprisingly easy to control herself. She hadn’t pushed herself on him since they left Suna.

The spideress knew that their marriage wasn’t perfect. She knew it was wrong when she would beg him to do what they both knew he couldn’t. She knew it must frustrate him the way she threw herself at him sometimes. Chikako didn’t want to do it and she always felt humiliated when her head cleared up. He always told her that it wasn’t her fault and that it was just a part of what their life was together and he was willing to manage it. She just hated that he had to. Part of her wondered if he would decide to not fight her off and allow it to happen. She was terrified of what would happen then. 

For now, she knew she had to focus on other things. They were attempting to convince a nine year old boy to be a part of their family. They had already decided not to tell Shinki about what she really was, at least not yet. Starting a family off without giving the boy full information was wrong, but perhaps they were just being a little selfish about the whole thing. After all, they had no way of knowing if Shinki would even agree to the arrangement.

Dressed and ready, she ran her hands over his shoulders lightly to straighten out his shirt before they headed down the hallway towards Kankuro’s room. Gaara knocked on the door lightly before they entered. She felt her heart beating fast. Chikako didn’t know why she felt so nervous. If Shinki didn’t want to be part of their family, it wasn’t a big deal. They would just keep on the way they had before and try again another day. Maybe with an infant someday. It wasn’t a big deal if they couldn’t have children.

But she was nervous.

Shinki and Kankuro were both sitting on the floor, which was littered with various tools and puppet parts. She had always been a little fascinated by the puppetry styles. She had asked Kankuro once if he had considered using her threads, but he turned her down fast about it. While he tolerated her and helped to find things to keep her distracted, he never shied away from the fact that he still felt as if they should have left her on the island. He openly admitted that if Gaara failed to kill her if she lost control, he had no issues with doing it. Whether he could or not, that was hard to tell, but he seemed willing to try.

Shinki’s puppet was different from that of her brother-in-law’s. As far as she knew, he hadn’t named it like Kankuro did his. It was a large skeleton with horns and shining yellow eyes. Half the bones were white and the other half were black. The whole thing was usually shrouded in a cloak of iron sand, something Shinki did to himself as well. Where Gaara kept his sand in a gourd, Shinki liked to have his out and prepared. Though she had learned long ago that Gaara’s sand was different. It could act on its own, where Shinki’s couldn’t. Currently, the black, iron sand was sitting in a jar next to the boy on the floor.

“Brother...Shinki,” he said lightly as she stood in the doorway, “We would like it if you would join us for dinner, Shinki.”

The boy looked up, his dark brown eyes looking at the both of them, “Will Sensei Kankuro be joining us?” 

“No. We would like to speak with you privately.”

He nodded and stood up, brushing the wrinkles from his clothing before starting to put away his things. She and Gaara allowed him to take his time. It would be wrong for him to leave his puppet sitting out and dismantled. No one could ever rush Kankuro when it came to putting up his puppets and tools, not even Gaara. It was easy to see that he had passed on that respect for his weapons to his student.

Dressed in his Suna flak jacket, a brown full-body outfit, which covered his throat, complete with a dark blue Suna forehead protector and black calf-length shinobi sandals; he stood in front of them, “Ready, Lord Kazekage,” the boy was always formal.

Slipping her arm around her husband’s arm, they lead the boy down the stairs. While Gaara didn’t want special treatment, he did want still want their privacy. Especially considering her eating habits. They had requested a private room to have their dinner in. The inn owner had been more than happy to oblige the request. She could tell as they walked in that it was actually a small bedroom. The bed had been pushed as far into a corner as possible and a table set out with four seats. They only needed three, but only because Kankuro wasn’t comfortable eating around here unless he had to. 

“Have you been enjoying the trip so far, Shinki?” she asked as they settled down and waited for the food to be brought in.

“Yes, Lady Kazekage. It is an honor to be allowed to come with and be chosen as team leader for the next Chunin exams. I’m learning a lot from Lord Kazekage and Sensei Kankuro,” he looked up fast at her, “And it’s always nice to be in your presence, Lady Kazekage,” he added quickly, as if she would be offended that he didn’t include her at first.

“I think, for the duration of the trip, it would be alright if you called us Gaara and Chikako,” her husband commented, “At least in a private setting like this,” even in Kankuro called him by his title in formal settings. It was to be expected, but those that knew him used his name in private.

The usually calm and collected boy faltered for the first time that Chikako could remember. He seemed like a child at the moment. Nervous and a little hesitant, “I couldn’t do that. It would be disrespectful.”

“It’s only disrespectful if we didn’t ask you to do it,” she said with a smile before Gaara reached over and took one of her hands. 

They all went silent as the inn owner brought in the food. They thanked him and waited till they were alone again to continue their conversation, “Do you like gizzards, Shinki?” she asked as she held up a plate. It was a favorite of hers and Gaara’s. She rarely ate anything that wasn’t meat or flesh of some kind. In fact, the amount of food they hard requested was nearly the whole menu when it came to whatever involved an animal in it. Most would probably assume that they planned on taking it with them when they left, but once Shinki had gone back to his room, Gaara would leave her alone to fill her stomach. She was embarrassed to eat fully in front of him or anyone.

“Oh yes. Very much. They’re my favorite,” which made her smile and Gaara squeezed her hand a little. She could feel how nervous he was and it seemed to match her own.

“Eat all you like,” her husband commented before pouring himself some water, “Shinki, we must confess, we asked you to come with us on this trip for more than just training and diplomatic purposes.”

He looked up from his slowly filling plate, “Oh?”

Chikako felt her words getting caught in her throat. For some reason, this felt harder than anything else she’d ever done. Her relationship with Gaara had been difficult, but it had always been clear that they cared for each other. There was a part of her brain that told her that she could make Shinki say yes. She could make just about anyone say yes to anything she wanted. All she had to do was use that side of herself that she hated so much. It would make Gaara happy if the boy said yes and they could have the family that she couldn’t biologically provide. But if he ever found out, she couldn’t bare the thought of how disappointed he would be in her. He put up with so much for her. Changed so much of his life for her. He always made sure to come up with credible and logical excuses for her behaviors. If he found out that she had done something like forcing Shinki to be a part of their family, it would kill her.

So she held it back. Pushed it deep down and did her best to stay human.

“It’s your choice completely, but we would like very much for you to be a part of our family,” she said softly with a smile.

“Yes. For you to be our son,” Gaara added, “We both think very highly of you,” while matters like this were usually discussed with an orphanage first, this was no usual situation. As Kazekage and wife of the Kazekage, it would be strange for the children’s home to tell them they couldn’t take in a child if they wanted one. Most would feel lucky if the Kazekage wanted to adopt them, “We would be honored if you accepted to become part of our family.”

The dark haired boy was staring at them with a look of shock. It was strange to see the stoic boy displaying such emotion, “I...I...I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything. Take all the time you want to decide,” the Kazekage said before taking a long drink of his water. She could tell how this was affecting him as well. He could hide it better than Shinki could.

“Wh-Why would you want me? No one ever adopts the kids my age. Wouldn’t you rather have a baby?” 

Chikako cleared her throat and looked down at the table for a moment. They had prepared for such questions, “I don’t mind to be honest with you, Shinki. You’re a mature boy for your age. I can’t have a child of my own,” she gripped Gaara’s hand and looked over at him sadly. The sadness wasn’t faked. She could give Gaara a child, but there would be a cost to it and that upset her, “We considered an infant,” which wasn’t true, “But getting to know you, we would like to have you as part of our family.”

“It would be very beneficial for all of us. We’re not expecting you to call us mother or father. You can continue on as you have been. The only difference would be a chance in living space and title. You can still continue your training with myself and Kankuro. You will still be heading up the team for the Chunin exam. Very little would change for you,” none of them had touched any of the food as Gaara talked.

Shinki was quiet for a few moments before looking at them again, “You said it would benefit everyone. What do you all get out of adopting me?”

“Chikako is unable to give me an heir for our family. If myself and Kankuro were to pass without having a child in our family, Suna would fall into the Nara Clan in Konoha. While I have nothing against my sister’s husband’s family, this would complicate things politically,” Gaara started.

The boy spoke up, “So I would have to become Kazekage?”

“Not necessarily. If something were to happen to me, Kankuro would inherit first. If you chose not to hold the title, you and the council would have the right to choose a new Kazekage rather than it falling to my nephew immediately. It would end my family’s hold on the title, but it would allow it to stay with a Suna family. Which is the main goal.”

“It’s just political why you want to adopt then?” his voice sounded sad and it tugged at her heart.

“Oh no, Shinki, we do care about you. We want to see you succeed. We just want to make sure you have every best possible chance at doing that,” not that he couldn’t succeed without them. Her husband’s closest friend had been an orphan and was now Hokage, “Having you in our lives can only make things better for us and, we hope, for you,” she said softly.

The silence went on for much longer this time. Shinki poked at his food a little with his fork as he stared down at it, but he finally spoke, “I...I need to think about this.”

“Of course,” she said fast.

“Take all the time you need,” Gaara finished, “And do not feel that saying no will change anything. You’ll still be my and Kankuro’s student and you’ll still be representing Suna in the Chunin exams. Nothing will change any of that.”

“Thank you. I’m very honored by all of this. I really am, but may I go eat in my room? I would like the time to think.”

They both nodded and allowed the boy to excuse himself, “I suppose that went as well as it could,” she commented, “He’s willing to consider it,” she had hoped for an enthusiastic acceptance, but Shinki was too logic minded to do that, “This whole thing has made me hungry,” she always got hungry when she was stressed.

Gaara stood before leaning over to kiss her cheek, “I’ll come back in thirty minutes and we can finish eating together,” he was giving her time to start her eating.

“Thank you.”


	24. Chapter 24

Shinki didn’t come back to speak with them that night. While they had hoped for an answer before starting their traveling again, the boy didn’t come to them about it. Not wanting to pressure him, they took to their bed and gave him the space he seemed to want. When morning came, they packed their things and readied to head out. It was a little strange to head to Kankuro’s room to get them, but they managed it.

Gaara felt a little defeated as he knocked on the door, “I hope we didn’t come on too strong last night.”

“I don’t think we did,” his wife tried to reassure him as his brother opened the door.

“Morning,” the puppetmaster said with a small yawn. He was dressed and ready to go, “Where’s Shinki? He needs to get his puppet. I’m not carrying it for him,” he thumbed into the room behind him where the skeleton puppet was sitting leaned against the second bed.

The Kazekage and spideress looked at each other for a moment in confusion before looking at him, “What do you mean? He’s not here with you?”

The painted faced puppeteer looked at them both curiously, “Nooo...He went to dinner with you two last night and I assumed he spent the night with you, given when I knew you all were going to ask him. Did he turn you down?”

“He said he needed to think about it and asked if he could come back here to finish his dinner,” Gaara moved past his brother and started looking around the room, as if Kankuro might have missed something, “He didn’t come back at all?”

“No. If he had, I doubt he would have left again without taking his puppet with him,” which was true. Shinki would not have gone off without it. It was one thing to leave it behind with Kankuro while going to dinner, but to not come back at all for it was an odd thought.

Gaara feared the worst. That they had been too forceful and that the boy had simply run off, “Where would he have gone?” Chikako asked softly. Gaara could see the lines of worry on her face. She was scared for the same reason he was. That they were the cause of his disappearance. Her eyes shined a little and he saw the tips of her fingers turning black. She was letting the stress get to her quickly.

Moving back to his wife, he wrapped his arms around her and whispered against her ear, “Calm down. It’s alright. I’m sure he’s fine,” looking back at his brother, he could see the worry in the other man’s face. Not for Shinki, but for Chikako. He knew his brother had issues with the Jorogumo, but he also knew how important it was to make sure she kept her mind clear and focused.

“He probably just went for a walk or he’s downstairs getting breakfast. Even without his puppet, he’s not a defenseless child,” it was true. While taijutsu wasn’t the best of his talents, Suna Academy made sure all students knew the basics of it, “He’s a strong kid. I bet he’s just took his food outside last night to eat and fell asleep. He’s probably under that tree outside,” Kankuro offered up logical explanations. 

Chikako nodded lightly, but he could tell that she didn’t want to accept those options. He was sure she was worrying about the same thing he was. That they had put too much pressure on the boy and he ran off. That they should have gone through the proper means of contacting the orphanage first, “Kankuro, why don’t you get his things together and we’ll go check the dining room for him.”

The puppetmaster nodded and went about gathering up both the skeletal puppet and the jar of iron sand. Gaara had an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Shinki might consider going somewhere without his puppet, but the sand was a different matter. The puppet was big and bulky, but the sand was easy to take with. Even without going back to the room he was sharing with Kankuro, the sand was infused with his chakra and could be called to him from a good distance. It made no sense not to take it if he were running away.

Quickly, they made their way down to the dining room, but found it empty save for the woman behind the counter starting breakfast orders, “Has the boy we were traveling with been down here this morning?” he asked as Chikako stood behind him fretting. They had to find Shinki soon or she was going to start panicking. Gaara couldn’t let that happen.

“Sorry, Lord Kazekage, but no. I did see him go outside last night though, with a plate of food. Asked him where he was going and he said he just wanted to eat outside.”

Chikako let out a small sigh, “Kankuro was probably right. He just fell asleep outside,” her voice sounded more like she was trying to convince herself as they headed towards the door.

“Why don’t you go check the alleyway and I’ll go look by that tree?” she nodded and started off on her own. Gaara watched her disappear around the corner before he started towards the village entrance. It was the only tree within the village itself, though there was a large forest outside the town near the border for the river country. Shinki had admitted to having never been out of Suna before and was a little excited to see actual trees. It was good training for him to start learning how to move through tees.

As the redhead got closer to the tree, he was mildly relieved at first to see a plate on the ground. That feeling disappeared as he realized there was ants covering it. They were trying to get the food that was still on it. Much of it had been spilled to the ground and the plate had a crack in it. It hadn’t been set down, it had been dropped, “Shinki?” he called out softly before moving under the tree. 

There was no sign of any kind of struggle. Gaara had trouble making any sense of it all. None of them had sensed any kind of danger the night before. 

Circling the tree, his mind focused on other things, he didn’t see the spiderweb at first. He walked through it and started swatting to get it off of his face. The sticky threads clung to his face and hair as he plucked them off, “Ugh…” he groaned. He got enough of this at home in his own bedroom.

Looking up, he saw the tree was infested with webs. As best he could remember, it wasn’t like that when they got here. He wondered if Chikako’s spiders had decided to use it for the night. She had said she wasn’t going to bring them, but that was the only explanation for the current state of the tree.

As if offended at his knocking down it’s web, a large spider dropped down in front of him and he stumbled back a step or two. It wasn’t like any of the ones he was used to seeing. Chikako normally handled Joro spiders. He was used to seeing their long, yellow bodies. He was even used to seeing the sandy colored desert spiders.

This thing was large, but it wasn’t long. It had a short body and the abdomen was much larger than the head. It was bulbus and the abdomen looked shell like. White with red spines sticking off of it. It didn’t look nearly as elegant as Chikako’s Joro spiders. To his surprise, it seemed to hiss at him and he narrowed his eyes at it.

“Gaara?” he turned his head to see his wife coming towards him, “Is he…” but she stopped mid question and froze several feet away from him. Her face paled and he saw her tense up. Her arms went black and he watched her lips part a bit and her chelicerae show.

Before he could say anything, she rushed over and wrapped her hand around the spiny spider that was quickly attempting to retreat up into the tree. She crushed it. Gaara had never seen her cause harm to a spider. She wasn’t above pushing someone out of the way as they were trying to step on one to save it. But she coldly crushed this one in her fist, “Chikako? Are you alright?” he reached out to touch her arm, but she twitch a little and he pulled his hand back, “Chikako?”

She looked up at him and he was glad to see her chelicerae had retreated, though her arms were still black and the claws were slowly forming. He had to calm her down before anyone saw, “Tusara.”

That was a name he hadn’t heard in a long time. She never discussed her sister. He had considered bringing the other woman up and seeing if Chikako would like to see her sister again someday, but it never come up in conversation. He knew very little of the other sister, only that if she had gone to the island with Chikako, she would have become like the other spider demonesses there, “What’s wrong, Chikako?”

“Tusara took him.”

“That’s not possible. Your sister isn’t capable of taking a shinobi in training without a fight,” last time he saw the girl, she had looked very aged and even a little feeble. 

“I know my sister’s scent. I just...I can’t believe I didn’t notice it sooner...I was just so focused on talking to Shinki…” her head lowered and she shook it a little, “She took him. She’s probably going to kill him…”

“That’s not going to happen,” he said sternly. Even if he didn’t quite believe that Tusara could have been the one to abduct Shinki, he wasn’t going to let whomever did get away with it, “Go get Kankuro...Chikako...Chikako?”

His wife was already walking away from him, but not towards the inn, she was heading towards the forest by the river, “You go get Kankuro and come find me.”

“I’m not letting you go alone,” he started after her. It would be better to have Kankuro with them to cover more ground, but he knew that tone of voice. She learned it from him. She wasn’t going back to the inn and there was nothing he could say or do to make her.

Moving quick to catch up with her, they both headed towards the trees.


	25. Chapter 25

Where was he? Shinki tried to remember what had happened. He’d been having dinner with the Kazekage and Lady Chikako. He remembered their offer to become their son. The request was shocking. He enjoyed spending his time with Lady Chikako. She was one of the few people that seemed to understand his passion for embroidery without teasing him about it. The Kazekage was no less in his favor either. He felt honored to be a student of someone so powerful. Then there was Sensei Kankuro. If he were part of the family, Sensei would also be his uncle. The two men he respected the most would be his family.

While he knew the right thing to do was to accept the request with absolute enthusiasm and respect, he couldn’t get the words to come out of his mouth. He’d been on his own his whole life and while they said that it didn’t have to change anything, he knew it would. He would have a mother and father. There weren’t many kids in the orphanage his age. He could have a home and a room of his own. 

Yet the words that came out of his throat were a request to think about it.

They didn’t seem upset with him and allowed him to leave. He’d intended on going back up to his room, but he knew Sensei Kankuro would be there. Shinki had a feeling the man knew what the dinner had been about and he didn’t want the knowing looks he would receive all night.

The young shinobi in training wanted some time alone. If he just sat in the dining room, the Kazekage and wife might see him. So he carried his plate outside, telling the inn owner’s wife that he just wanted to eat in the night air. She didn’t try to stop him, for which he was thankful.

There was a bench nearby and he started for it, but that’s when the buzzing in his ears started. No. It wasn’t buzzing. It was more like music. Like the high piece of a string instrument being plucked repeatedly. It reminded him of Lady Chikako. She had brought a Koto to the academy one day. The music she played on it was eerily beautiful. He remember Yodo asking her how she got the instrument to play that way she the older woman said that it was special strings made with special material. The high pitch he was hearing now reminded him of one of the notes Lady Chikako used on her Koto.

He willed his body to sit on the bench, but it wouldn’t. Instead, his legs started moving of their own accord. Leading him towards the village entrance. Shinki felt the plate of food slip from his fingers and he tried to call his iron sand too him, but he was already too far away. One day, he would be able to call it to him the way Lord Kazekage did his own sand, but he wasn’t that good yet. His distance was still limited. He regretted having not reconnected his chakra strings to his puppet, but the puppet was still in a state of slight dismantle from the maintenance he’d been doing to it.

Shinki strained against whatever felt like it was pulling him, but it did no good. He couldn’t even get his voice to work right to call out for help. Never in his life had he felt helpless before. He’d always been prideful of his talents and his natural strength. Never before in his life had he felt the need to call for help. Yet the one time he did, he found himself unable to.

The high pitch sound stopped as he found himself standing under the tree. Looking up, he saw the spider webs. Such webs weren’t uncommon in Suna. He heard stories that Lady Chikako was a lover of spiders and that she was the reason for the increased spider population there. She actively stopped people from killing them and the one time he had been allowed in the Kazekage’s private quarters to receive training information, he had seen the webs in all the corners. Some people joked that Lady Chikako was a giant spider, but he always snapped at those people and told them that they should be more respectful of the Kazekage and his wife.

A large, spiny spider dropped down in front of his face and he couldn’t get his arm to move to swat it away. Instead, everything went dark and the last thing he saw was the spider dangling there.

Now he felt his vision clearing up and he rubbed at his forehead a little. It took Shinki a moment to realize he had control of his body again. Slowly, he stood, his knees feeling a little weak till he got full feeling back in his legs. It didn’t take long for his eyes to adjust to the low light in the cave. It was damp and he could hear water from somewhere. 

His first instinct was to find a way out. He sniffed the air trying to catch the scent of fresh air, but there was none. Which told him he was fairly far back in the cave. Next, he tried to find points of light. He saw one, but it didn’t look like natural light. He saw no points of natural light, again, likely because of his distance in the cave. 

Deciding that the unnatural light might be coming from an unwelcome party, he decided to go the other way. But as he went to start creeping his way out, a large spider fell from the ceiling in front of him. It reminded him of the one in the tree, but it was much bigger. It hissed at him and screeched. Rather than covering his ears, he endured the sound the way Sensei Kankuro had taught him and instead went for his weapons. He didn’t have his puppet or Iron Sand, but he wasn’t weaponless. At least he hadn’t been when he left the inn.

Though it appeared now, as he patted around for his kunai and shuriken, his weapons were now gone too. The spider didn’t seem to be going on the offense though. It would hiss if he stepped forward, but it allowed him to move back. Shinki realized it was keeping him in here. Herding him.

“Trying to leave so soon, Little Ninja?”

Rarely was he caught off guard by people. Shinki whipped around and put his hands up in defense. Even without a weapon, he was willing to use his limited talents in taijutsu if necessary. Not that he felt is necessary when he saw the source of the voice.

She old. Haggish. Her white hair hung around her face in limp strings. Her skin was greyish with a blue tint that made it look corpse like. Her eyes were pitch black, like Lady Chikako’s, but they didn’t shine the way hers did. They were dead eyes. Her skin, aside from it’s color, looked loose. Like it was barely hanging onto her body. Her thin body made her limbs look extra long. Her spindly arms lead down to long fingered hands. Her nails were discolored and long. Shinki had heard stories about swamp hags and the like. Seeing this woman, he felt those stories took it easy on how disgusting their appearance was.

“Who are you?” he asked sternly.

“Oh, you have his voice. Well, the tone of it,” she sniffed the air a little, “But you’re not his. Not by blood. Sad. I was hoping you were. That would have made this more fun for me.”

Readying himself to run, Shinki kept his eyes on her. He was less scared of the giant spider than he was an unknown woman. She might not have appeared strong, but he knew appearances could be deceiving. He trusted his strength against a mindless spider more than he did against another person, “Who are you?”

“To you? No one,” her voice didn’t match her appearance. It was young sounding, but still mature. It reminded him of Lady Chikako’s voice, “But to the Lord and Lady Kazekage, I’m family. The forgotten and mistreated family,” the hag seemed to be pouting as she talked and slumped down against a rock, “I knew you couldn’t be her child, but I had hoped you were his. Nevertheless, I imagine they will come for you anyway.”

His eyes betrayed him for a moment. The hag disappeared and in her place was a young woman, not much younger than the Lady Kazekage. Her dark hair flowed over her shoulders and her creamy white skin glowed. She was rather beautiful. But as soon as it appeared, the hag was back just as quickly, “Oh dear, I had hoped it would work on you, but it doesn’t seem to. It never really does on children. Which is fine, I suppose. Children taste stringy and gamey anyway.”

“T-taste?” his eyes widened a little.

She smiled up at him, “Oh yes. A child will suffice in desperate times, but there is nothing like a strong man. I bet Lord Kazekage will taste wonderful. And his brother…” she made a hungry sound, “I’ve always had a liking for him. I’d asked mother once if I could try to seduce him and marry him, but she said to stay away from the high profile types. Not that it could stop sister though. No. Nothing could stop her. She was going to have what she wanted no matter what.”

“Lady Chikako…” he said it softly.

The cold, dead, black eyes flashed for a moment and the beautiful woman was back for a second, “You’re a bright boy. You’re starting to put things together, aren’t you? Sister fell in love with him and Mother tried to stop it. Lot of good that did her. She killed Mother and Father for it. Not that I thought she intended on staying with the Kazekage. You can imagine my shock to find out she actually married him. Her! Marry someone! It’s disgusting! It’s unnatural!”

Shinki found his feet unable to move again, “I don’t understand…”

“Of course you don’t. You’re a child and that limits you. You will understand when you’re older though. Don’t worry, so long as you don’t start being a pain, you’ll survive this. I promise. What’s your name?”

“...” he debated lying, but he didn’t see a point in that right now, “...Shinki.”

“Just Shinki? No family name?”

“I’m an orphan.”

The hag feigned a sad face, “What a pity. No one to care that the little orphan is missing. I’m an orphan too, you know. My sister killed my mother and father. All because they wanted to ship her off somewhere she belonged. The kicker is that even after it was all said and done, she ended up there anyway. She just couldn’t accept what she was and what she deserved. The final kick the teeth was her abandoning her people to come back here. She’s such a difficult and annoying person. I did have a grandmother, but I got tired of her. She was old anyway,” Shinki got the feeling that her sister wasn’t the only killer in the family.

“The real knife to the back was her coming back to marry him and not even telling me. Abandoning me on my own. Not caring that I might need help. I hate her!” the spider behind him hissed loudly as she shouted and he winced, “That doesn’t matter though. I’m going to catch her, bring her back where she belongs, and have my meal. The others say that if I devour someone like the Kazekage or his brother, I could be almost as powerful as her. If I eat them both, well, you can just imagine the strength. I’ll have my sister back and we’ll rule over our people and start the next generation together.”

The spider screeched and she stood up fast, “Oh, it seems they found us. I had wondered how long it would take. I guess they cared enough to come look for you after all, Orphan Boy...I’m back here, Dear Sister!” she cried out before laughing a little, “I have the little boy and I’m going to eat him!” the laughing continued before Shinki found himself being nudged behind the knees by the spider. 

It wasn’t trying to make him walk though. He fell backwards and onto it’s shelled back. His arms draped around the spikes on it’s back and he tried to sit up, but he couldn’t. He looked around as best he could and found the cave to be littered with bones. He wondered how long she had been here to get this many bodies left behind. 

“Shinki?!” it was the Kazekage’s voice. It tugged at his heartstrings to hear the concern in the man’s voice. Had anyone ever been concerned for him before?

“Oh, you brought my dear brother-in-law with you! How sweet!” the spider hag cackled.

The sound of the rushing sand was almost comforting. The hag skrieked in shock as a wall of it came down in front of her. The spider stumbled back, seeming to react equally to her shock, and Shinki rolled off it’s back and gasped a little as he found himself in what seemed to be a small, but deep river. Before coming on the trip, he had been excited to see the river country. He’d never seen a real river before. The idea of a forested area and rivers was so foreign and exciting to him. He had been eager to test out using his puppet and sand in that environment. 

Shinki gasped for air as he broke through the surface of the water. The spiny spider flailed at him, trying to grab at him and he ducked back below the surface. He tried to make his way to the other side, but his body still wasn’t responding correctly. He felt heavy and his lungs felt hot. If he survived this, he promised himself to do more water training.

Breaking the surface again for air, Shinki tried to go back into the cold water, but felt resistance this time. The large spider tried to grab at him again, but it suddenly retreated. He could see the Kazekage fighting with the spider hag. It didn’t seem to be much of a fight. He was in awe getting to see the Kazekage in an actual fight. It wasn’t as if the man took it easy on them in training, but he knew that training would forever be different from a real situation. His face was cold and stern. Yodo had joked once that Shinki had the same look on his face when they trained as the Kazekage did when he fought. He was always honored at the comment of similarity.

His attention was brought back to the water though, as he felt himself rising out of it. He realized there was something in the water under him. Something large and alive. In an attempt to get off of whatever it was, he felt himself trapped as two long spider legs wrapped around him. At first, he thought it was another of the spider hag’s pets, but his eyes widened as Lady Chikako’s head came out of the water near his own. 

He was used to seeing the Lady Kazekage smiling softly or with an air of disconnect on her face. She was always lovely to see, though he heard stories that she was once considered rather homely and mousy. He had a hard time picturing that. Especially right now. She looked more stern than the Kazekage. Her wet, dark hair was matted around her face and her eyes were glaring up at the spider on the shore edge. The largest pair of chelicerae he had ever seen on a spider were pushing at the sides of her mouth. It was like something out of one of those horror stories Araya liked reading. The ones where the pretty lady actually turned out to be a monster.

“L-Lady Chikako?” he choked out softly.

His voice seemed to affect her. The chelicerae retreated and her face softened, “Oh, Shinki, I’m so glad we found you. We were so worried,” he recognized similar speech patterns between her and the hag. Though her words felt nicer to hear. The pitch was nowhere near as high and there was sincere emotion in them. She really had been worried about him. Even knowing his training and his strengths, she’d still worried. It made him feel strange to think that people really did care for him, “Did she hurt you?”

“No. She said she wants to eat Lord Kazekage and Sensei Kankuro.”

The hardness returned to her pretty face as she started carrying him to the water’s edge. The spiny spider backed up. It seemed to want to appear intimidating, but it was actually scared to confront Lady Chikako. As they moved into shallow water, he noticed that the large thing under the water was actually her, as were the spider legs holding him above the surface. 

There had always been stories and gossip around about Lady Chikako. About her unusual obsession with spiders. Rumors about her family and their history. Some even said that she was once held under suspicion of attempting to help have Lord Kazekage abducted. Shinki had never believed any of it and even put a stop to people talking about it when he was around. But now, he realized there might have been some truth to the stories.

Lady Chikako was...something. He wasn’t sure what yet, but something more than he’d realized before. He knew there was jutsu that could change a person’s physical form, but he could feel something powerful coming off of her. It was more than just a change in body. Somehow, this felt natural for her. A demon, perhaps.

Not that it mattered. It didn’t make him think anything less of her. If anything, it made her more special. It made him feel more honored to be asked to be part of their family. These powerful people wanted him in their lives. These two unique, amazing beings wanted him for their son. 

He crawled out of the water and she came out behind him, towering over him. He stared in amazement as her large, Joro body seemed to grow more as it came out of the water. From the waist up, she was still human, but her oblong spider abdomen was just like the spiders she carried around with her sometimes at the Academy. 

He flattened himself out on the ground as she crawled over him. The spiny spider screeched loudly and ran off, obviously not wanting a fight with Lady Chikako, “I hate you!” he heard the hag’s voice shout out and as he pushed himself up from the ground, he saw Lady Chikako following after the retreating spider hag. Lord Kazekage’s sand retreated into his gourd and he rushed over to help Shinki stand up, “Are you alright?” he asked softly.

Looking up into the Kazeage’s cloudy, green eyes; Shinki realized the older man wasn’t treating him like a student or a comrade right now. He was genuinely concerned for Shinki’s wellbeing. He wasn’t going to make Shinki get up and start fighting or tell him to do laps or anything that usually followed that kind of question when in training, “I’m...I’m okay,” what happened next was more shocking than anything else. The Kazekage smiled a little and reached out to touch his hair. The older man smoothed his hair back and then touched his cheek lightly. It was a comforting touch. 

“We were worried about you,” Lady Chikako had said the same thing.

These powerful, important people worried for his wellbeing. It made something deep inside of him felt heavy and warm, “I’m sorry I didn’t go back to Sensei Kankuro’s room.”

“It’s alright. That doesn’t matter right now. I think this is yours though,” he put his hand up in the air and Shinki saw his Iron Sand flowing through the air. He had no idea how far they were from the inn, but he couldn’t help but be amazed at the Kazekage’s ability to call it from so far away. Once it was close enough, he could feel his own pull on it and it wrapped itself around him like a cloak.

Before he could give his thanks, a loud scream came from somewhere in the cave, “Lady Chikako…” even the Kazekage stood up straight and looked in the direction of the sound. Not giving the Kazekage time to order him not to, he took off running. If Lady Chikako was in trouble, he wasn’t going to wait hold back. That thing had done something to him and he wanted his own little revenge for it.

“Shinki! Wait!” but he didn’t. He pushed further into the cave and only came to a halting stop when he came upon the fight. Lord Kazekage was on him within seconds and grabbed his shoulders tightly.

Lady Chikako’s large form filled up much of the space in the cave, but the hag and her pet were small enough to get around her. The spiny spider had clawed it’s way up Lady Chikako’s body and was sinking it’s fangs into her yellow colored abdomen. The hag had a knife and was slashing at the spideress’ legs, “You never deserved it!” she screeched, “You never wanted it! You’re a waste! You abandoned them on that island! They needed you! I needed you! It should have been me!”

“We’re monsters, Tusara! We don’t deserve anything other than to die out!”

“I’ll make you watch as I devour everyone you love! Then I’ll devour you! It won’t make me the Jorogumo, but it will make me strong enough! That’s all that matters!”

The hag managed to get under Lady Chikako’s abdomen and before he or the Kazekage could react, she thrust her knife up into the soft underbelly. She cried out in pain and her legs buckled. Without a hesitation or thought against it, the word came out of his mouth, “Mother!”

The hag turned her eyes on him and the Kazekage, “I’ll eat you too, you little piss!”

It happened fast. The haggish woman ran at him and the Kazekage. She seemed unafraid of what they could do to her. Getting the upper hand on her sister seemed to give her a rush of irrational confidence. Before she got too close, Lady Chikako regained her footing. She threw off the spider on her back and crushed it with one of her massive legs. At the same time, a combined wall of his own iron sand and the Kazekage’s sand shot up in front of them. The hag ran into it and screeched as it wrapped around her.

The sounds of her screams disappeared in the sand as it slowly tightened. Lady Chikako shot out a massive thread of webbing from her clawed hands to wrap around the ball of sand. Fire flared out from the webbing and the screams inside started again as the sand started to heat up. The webbing seared its way through the sand cocoon and disappeared into it. There was one more sharp, ear piercing screech of pain before the sand flowed back to it’s owners and all that was left was a huddled mass of flesh, blood, and webbing.

It wasn’t Shinki’s first time seeing a dead body, but it was his first time seeing a nearly unidentifiable one. He had heard stories of Lord Kazekage’s Sand Coffin. Part of him felt that most of the damage had been done by Lady Chikako, but he felt somewhat honored that his own Iron Sand had been used in the Kazekage’s special technique and had assisted in taking care of that monster.

His dark eyes went back to the spideress and he had to blink a few times. The giant spider woman’s body seemed to almost fuzz out of shape. It was like watching the hag shift between being beautiful and ugly. It was somewhat a dizzy thing to witness. But within moments, it was just Lady Chikako standing there in front of them. The Kazekage rushed from his side to her as she collapsed to the ground holding her stomach. Shinki realized there was blood seeping through her own flak jacket. 

Shinki moved slowly closer to them as the Kazekage pressed his hand over her wound. His sand formed under his hand and he realized that it was being used to stop the bleeding, “I’ll be okay. She only hit my silk glands. Guess it’s a good thing I don’t have an actual stomach,” she said softly, “I won’t be able to spin as much for a little while. The bleeding will stop soon.”

“Lady...Lady Chikako?” he said softly as he moved closer to them.

Her black eyes turned to him and she smiled a little, “Are you alright, Shinki? She didn’t hurt you, did she?” he felt that warm, heavy feeling again. She was laying there bleeding and she would rather ask if he was safe.

“No. I’m okay…” he knelt down next to her.

“I’m sorry you had to see that side of me. It’s not a side I want anyone seeing. Even Gaara has only seen it once before,” she reached out to touch his cheek, but she stopped short, as if she might be scared he wouldn’t want her to touch him.

“Shinki, you can’t tell anyone what you saw of Chikako,” which confirmed for him that her abilities were not some sort of jutsu, “People might not understand. We know we can’t force you to keep our secret, but it might put her life in danger,” the Kazekage’s voice wasn’t stern. It was filled with concern for his wife. The same sort of concern he had had when expressing their worry for his being missing, “I hope you can understand that.”

He sat quietly for a moment, “I...I do understand. I won’t tell anyone. I promise,” he watched as the Kazekage turned his eyes back on his wife. He wondered how painful it must have been to keep such a secret. They were trusting him to keep it for them. Shinki was aware of the hand he now had over them. He could ask for anything he wanted and they would have to give it to him. But he realized he wasn’t that sort of person. He would keep it, because he knew it was the right thing to do. Lady Chikako had never been anything but kind to him. To hurt her that way would only hurt him.

What he said next was difficult for him, but he knew it was what he wanted. Seeing her hurt by that hag, he’d realized how hard it would be to lose her and the Kazekage from his life, “It should be a family secret.”

Both their eyes looked over at him, “Shinki, you don’t have to do that. As we said last night, nothing will change,” the older man said lightly.

“We don’t want you to feel as if you have to accept our offer,” she said softly.

Shinki shook his head, “I know I don’t have to. I want to. You care about me. No one’s ever cared about me before. I want…” the words caught in his throat and he realized it wasn’t because he was scared to say it, but rather that he felt choked up about it. He couldn’t ever remember wanting to cry before in his life, but if he was going to, now felt like the right time to do it, “I want to be your son.”

:Oh, Shinki,” Lady Chikako started before she wrapped her arms around him to hug him. He rested his head on her shoulder. He’d never been hugged like this before. It was warm and comforting. He could feel the Kazekage wrap his arms around from behind, holding both him and his wife. It enveloped him in warmth from all sides. 

He wasn’t sure how long they sat there on the cave floor like that, but Shinki didn’t care.


End file.
